--- title: "Keeping Pace with the Times: Building a \"Proper\" Marketing Team" description: "A seasoned marketing professional reflects on the challenges of building a strong marketing team, emphasizing that true team success comes from internal development, not just hiring. The article outlines key principles and practical steps for creating a team that can win battles, understand tactics, and execute strategy." author: "丁永征" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2014-10-18" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/keeping-pace-with-the-times-building-a-proper-marketing-team-ca1f3efc/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/keeping-pace-with-the-times-building-a-proper-marketing-team-ca1f3efc.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1Q3k0gwC5uEqlsyRZ3zmEQ" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%8E%E6%97%B6%E4%BF%B1%E8%BF%9B-%E6%89%93%E9%80%A0-%E5%83%8F%E6%A0%B7-%E8%90%A5%E9%94%80%E5%9B%A2%E9%98%9F-ca1f3efc.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/keeping-pace-with-the-times-building-a-proper-marketing-team-ca1f3efc/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Keeping Pace with the Times: Building a "Proper" Marketing Team > A seasoned marketing professional reflects on the challenges of building a strong marketing team, emphasizing that true team success comes from internal development, not just hiring. The article outlines key principles and practical steps for creating a team that can win battles, understand tactics, and execute strategy. Friendly reminder: Click the blue text above, "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting," to learn more about marketing and distributor internal management. Tired of expert lectures, saturated with articles, weary of business routines, yet still confused about marketing—after more than a decade in the marketing circle, I finally understand the line from a movie years ago: "Hearts are scattered, and the team is hard to lead." To be honest, marketing team issues are a concern for every company executive, yet they often don't know where to start. They lament, "Why is my marketing team so 'improper'?" Setting aside the abstract, what does a "proper" team look like in the eyes of a marketing director? A true marketing team should be able to win battles, understand tactics, and strategize. Individual marketers should be both lone heroes and collaborative players. Such a team doesn't fall from the sky like a pie, nor does Lin Daiyu (a metaphor for something rare) drop from heaven. A truly proper marketing team is cultivated by its leaders. How should they build their marketing team? Some principles cannot be crossed. Regardless of your perspective, in Chinese marketing, some principles are immutable, which we might temporarily call "marketing will." People's hearts are the greatest productive force. In building a marketing team, many executives painstakingly perfect marketing systems, but they forget that even the best systems require people to execute them. Managing marketing personnel differs from production management; they are mostly on the front lines. Even with mobile phone tracking and fixed route settings, these are child's play for active frontline marketers. To truly unleash the marketing potential of salespeople, the best approach is to consider their needs and genuinely care for them. When hearts are warm, the team is strong. Cultivation over selection. The biggest misconception in marketing is the saying "Race horses, don't judge them." Many marketing directors often repeat this mantra, but they forget that even a thousand-li horse is not born but trained. It also needs nurturing; even a thousand-li horse needs soil to grow. There are many excellent marketers in the market, but simply hiring them is not the best choice. Talents recruited from the market have their weaknesses: How loyal are they to the company? Do they have high ambitions but low abilities? Mass recruitment of market talent can create tension in the existing team and harm team building. Therefore, carefully cultivating team members is the way to build a marketing team. Assessment indicators must be grounded. Many marketing executives are frustrated and often make mistakes in marketing management. Here's an example: In May 2009, a director at a Shandong beer company was newly transferred from the group headquarters. To complete the monthly task, he emphasized daily plans and implemented full assessment. The specific indicators were: 1. For regional managers: For each ton below the daily plan, a fine of 6 yuan; for each ton above, a bonus of 6 yuan. If the company didn't deliver beer that day, the manager was fined 30 yuan. 2. For salespeople: For the month, for each ton above the plan, a bonus of 6 yuan; for each ton below, a fine of 6 yuan. This assessment seemed fine, but he didn't know the company's task completion situation. Almost no company could complete 80% of the plan that month, let alone exceed it. He intended to give a big reward to motivate the troops, but instead, he gave them a warning. Such an assessment was quietly dropped by the end of the month. The principle for managing and assessing marketing personnel is to "grasp the big and let go of the small," and the essence of marketing management is to "grasp both ends, let go of the middle." Therefore, when setting assessment indicators, they should both reward diligence and punish laziness. If the indicators cannot be implemented, it's a failure of marketing policy design. So, how should you build your own marketing team? 1. Systematic training is key. Training for marketing personnel should not be a mere formality, nor should it be general. Training for salespeople should be standardized and systematic. In content: Basic marketing knowledge, basic marketing skills (such as negotiation techniques), management knowledge, social etiquette, as well as corporate culture and mindset training. In levels: For grassroots employees, emphasize skills and etiquette training; for middle-level employees, emphasize management and marketing concepts; for senior executives, design strategy and mindset training. In forms: Based on the company's strategic intent and actual resources, implement a combination of case training, outdoor development, university talent programs, and internal training with invited lecturers. The key is not how much you train employees at once, but that training is systematic and improves employees' skills holistically. Companies must recognize that training is also a unique competitive advantage, not just a benefit for employees. 2. Select the right targets for motivation. Incentives for salespeople must be tailored to individual needs. Specifically: - For competitive marketers, implement marketing competitions to reflect their marketing value. - For achievement-oriented marketers, consider the sense of accomplishment marketing brings them. For example, let them join market development public relations teams, have them mentor apprentices at a certain level, and set up positions like manager-level salesperson or director-level salesperson to reflect their achievements. - For materialistic marketers, "heavy rewards will bring brave men," so set tiered incentives. - For those lacking goals and ambition, last-place elimination or bi-monthly elimination are good incentive measures. Sometimes, punishment and reward have equal effects, depending on the individual. 3. Demand results, but don't give up on the process. The erroneous view of "results, not process" has been widely accepted in the marketing world, but the view that "if the process is good, the results will naturally be good" still has some market. In fact, upon careful consideration, marketing directors should also discard this thinking. The correct mindset is to demand results without giving up on the process. This is because many processes are uncontrollable, and even if controllable, the results of the month may not immediately appear in the process. We can control marketing personnel, but many marketing resources are beyond our control, such as downstream channels, restaurants, and retail stores. The true formula for building a marketing team is: Don't be superstitious, don't bluff, don't toss around! Keep your thinking up to date—that's all. -------------------------------------- Like this article? Feel free to click the top right corner to share it to your Moments. About us: WeChat Name: FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting and Management Account Introduction: 20 years of FMCG distributor operation and management experience, professionally targeting distributor internal management: We understand distributors better than manufacturers, and we understand internal management better than distributors. 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