By Liu Chunxiong / Teacher Liu's Forum (ID: liuchunxiong1964)

Three years ago, I almost always mentioned Mozzila in my lectures, using it as a benchmark for [mainstream gear shifting]. Now, the dairy products in my home are mostly Ambrosial, given by others. In North China, dairy is mainly a gift item—you give me, I give you. I have no preference between the two; to this day, I haven't tasted any difference. But now, the gap in volume between them is significant. Ambrosial's sales exceeded 10 billion last year, and this year it's said to exceed 15 billion.

01 Mozzila had a first-mover advantage; when its volume exceeded 5 billion, Ambrosial was still catching up. In terms of brand, I believe there's little difference in consumers' minds between Yili, Mengniu, and Bright—at least for me, the difference is minimal. Brand similarity was noted by Kotler long ago. China's current first-tier brands have all entered brand similarity. Everyone is a trustworthy brand, so brand no longer creates differentiation—this is brand similarity. Product similarity, brand similarity—what's left for competition? Channel and team; only these two elements remain. Channels are also maintained by the team.

02 Success in marketing, failure in management. This is a common ailment among many Chinese enterprises. Marketing management is an area I've always paid close attention to. Chinese marketing has two characteristics that cannot be ignored:

  • First, strategic gambling;
  • Second, management ruthlessness. Dairy upgrade was already validated by Mozzila. Strategic gambling means betting everything; I think Ambrosial dares to bet. Management ruthlessness means leading the team and dealers with tough measures. Being tough in management isn't about holding grudges. Chinese marketing has at least 5 levels internally and through channels. Chinese channels are highly fragmented; if you loosen up even slightly, the channels scatter. Among the three major dairy companies, Mengniu used to be the toughest in management, now it's Yili. The largest is always the one with the toughest management. If your product lags, you can catch up and imitate. But if your management isn't tough, you can't catch up.

03 Even without weapons, an army is the most effective fighting force. An army's combat effectiveness comes from training. New recruits aren't trained on weapons but on obeying commands, trained to react instinctively. What is instinctive reaction? It's behavior without thought. What is execution? It's being eliminated if you don't execute. With a bodhisattva's heart, wield thunderous means. With a kind heart, do seemingly ruthless management, not seeking temporary understanding but perfect outcomes. This is both the cruelty of management and the beauty of managers' humanity. Huawei's wolf culture wouldn't exist without management's toughness. Two peers of similar scale use the same SaaS management software. One succeeds, with sales still growing during industry decline. The other, in my view, is seeing sales decline and the team has scattered. The difference: one abandoned SaaS when employees opposed it; the other persisted despite opposition. Why did employees oppose? Because with the SaaS system, employees lost freedom.

04 High school students and college students are two different "animals," but only a college entrance exam separates them. The hard work in high school is voluntary because of the exam mechanism. Some say China's education system is flawed. Look at the laxness of college students to see what would happen without the exam system. As a university teacher, I know the state of college students. Once Chinese people relax, they loosen to the level of agricultural civilization's laxness. Without strict management, employees cannot be shifted onto the track of industrial society. Europe and America have centuries of industrial civilization training; China does not. Even if some are PhDs, professors, experts, or bosses, deep down they have smallholder mentality. Even those who "rebel" are essentially from agricultural civilization.

05 Some companies have a sales team that's as good as none, because most don't work. Such companies still survive; I think the Chinese market is quite tolerant. Some companies have a team that's more dangerous than no team. Because the team is corrupt, not doing beneficial work but harmful work. For such companies, no matter how good the product innovation or brand, it's useless. Of course, negative argumentation isn't my style; let me argue positively about sales management. Sales management, I believe, hinges on two activations. Without activation, staring at them daily is useless. The first activation is [activating efficiency]. With proper management, the sales system's efficiency can increase three to four times. This is a conclusion I reached long ago. It's not that salespeople are lazy, but due to lack of supervision, efficiency is low. Even if busy, they're often busy without results. Activating efficiency depends on two things: first, whether they're doing the right things. What's the right thing? Work that contributes to sales growth. The test is simple: does it contribute to sales growth? Second, whether they're doing things efficiently. What's efficiency? Doing more in the same time. Efficiency comes from rhythm; being busy is inefficient. Activating efficiency lets employees see: I didn't work harder, yet I achieved more. The second activation is [activating psychology]. This is closely related to the first. Because efficiency was activated without extra effort, performance improved. Then employees think: if I put in more effort, wouldn't performance be even better? So, the second activation pushes employees to a new level. Once they reach a new level, they self-activate. Don't think management is just pressure, hardship, or high targets. Management suppresses the evil in human nature, and the good emerges.

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