Speaking of special operations, one immediately thinks of a group of people wearing steel helmets, camouflage, with daggers at their waists and submachine guns in hand, jumping out of airplanes. They always act silently, like ghosts of the night, lurking near enemy headquarters or important military targets, killing invisibly. Although this group is small in scale, they are well-equipped and each can fight ten opponents. More importantly, their combat style is mainly based on surprise attacks, never playing by the rules, so they often deliver unexpected fatal blows to large army groups. As Major Yamamotoichi said in "Bright Sword": When the scales of war are in delicate balance, an ant can change the course of battle. I believe that compared to the battlefield full of gunfire, the market where many enterprises fight is just a bit less smoky; the essence is the same. Therefore, in many cases, excellent military thought can be almost completely applied to business competition. Thus, in the following exposition, I will combine military thought with a brief discussion of competitive strategies for small and medium enterprises.

  1. Amplify Local Advantages To prove this point, I will reveal a little-known past event. More than twenty years ago, when popsicles were still five cents each, in the only elementary school in a small town, on the playground. A group of snot-nosed, innocent children formed a circle, not to play the game of dropping the handkerchief, but to watch a fight. If you added a referee and a woman holding a sign, it would be a children's version of "武林风" (a martial arts show). In the crowd, two children faced off: one was the butcher's son, dark and sturdy, and the other was me as a child, thinner than a yellow flower. The duel started because I vividly imitated how the butcher was scolded by his wife into silence. The butcher's son felt ashamed and angry. Even though I apologized, it wasn't enough to quell his anger, so we agreed to settle it in a manly way. The fight ended in ten seconds because the butcher's son, seeing girls in the crowd, wanted to show off. He extended one index finger and hooked it a few times, signaling me to come first. So I charged forward without hesitation, grabbed that provocative finger with both hands, and twisted it hard. The butcher's son stood still for two seconds, then fell to the ground with a loud thud, crying loudly. For this, my mother was embarrassed to buy pork from his house for two full months. If I had fought the butcher's son fairly, three of me combined wouldn't have been his match. Although the butcher's son was strong, the strength of one finger couldn't compare to my two hands, so I, thinner than a yellow flower, won. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army often used this tactic: first divide the enemy into small pieces, then concentrate superior forces to annihilate them. In fact, this is a cheating tactic, but all is fair in war; tactics have nothing to do with integrity. Duke Xiang of Song, in his thirteenth year, attacked Zheng and fought against the Chu army that came to rescue Zheng at the Zhu River. The Chu army was strong, and his advisors suggested attacking while the Chu army was crossing the river. Duke Xiang, being righteous, refused and insisted on waiting until they crossed before fighting. As a result, he was beaten so badly that even his mother wouldn't recognize him, and he died the next year. Mao Zedong praised him as a "pig-like militarist." The strategic thought of amplifying local advantages, when reflected in business operations and finally formed into effective tactics, should embody the following points:
  2. Narrow the scope, increase concentration If you sprinkle a handful of salt into a pond, the water tastes the same; but if you put it in a jar, you can salt duck eggs. The difference lies in concentration. Large or even giant enterprises have the strength to pour salt into the pond with sacks and patiently wait for salted fish in autumn. Small and medium enterprises can't afford to invest that much salt, and if they invest too little, it's useless. In the end, they would starve to death before the fish become salty. So, finding a suitably sized jar and carefully pickling duck eggs is undoubtedly the best approach for SMEs. A small container ensures high enough concentration, and the duck eggs will become salty faster than the fish in the pond.
  3. Narrow the product line, make it strong and refined Narrowing the product doesn't mean turning a tiger into a cat, but narrowing the product line, turning a flock of sheep into a wolf. As the saying goes: A tiger raising one cub can block the road, but a mouse raises a whole litter. When Mengniu was starting out, they only made six or seven products. In 2000, Old Niu (Ni Gensheng) visited a dairy enterprise in Jiuquan. In its exhibition room, there were more than forty dairy products on display. The accompanying leader criticized Old Niu: "You only have six or seven kinds." Old Niu remained silent. After the visit, when both sides sat in the meeting room, the factory director from Jiuquan said happily, "Last year we sold over 50,000 yuan. This year the development trend is very good. We plan to achieve sales of 480,000 yuan!" At that time, Mengniu's annual sales had exceeded 200 million yuan. Mengniu, this cow, could drop a cow pat that would make such a small enterprise look up in awe. So it was the leader who criticized Old Niu who was left speechless. Imagine, Mengniu, which grew at rocket speed, had only six or seven products when its annual sales exceeded 200 million. Many SMEs should ask themselves: Among their products as numerous as wasps, is there one that can be as big as a fighter jet?
  4. Narrow the attack point, concentrate firepower When two armies face off, theoretically, one should arrange machine gunners, grenade throwers, snipers, and artillery positions according to the terrain, forming an interlocking fire network to suppress the enemy. But as early as over two thousand years ago, Sun Wu said: "War has no constant form, water has no constant shape." That is, nothing is inherently what it appears to be. Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword" couldn't read many characters and certainly hadn't read "The Art of War," but he understood this principle. So he dared to lead the New First Regiment, lacking guns and ammunition, to confront the elite Sakata Regiment head-on, destroying Sakata's command post with one artillery shot and killing that old devil. The victory at Lijiapo fully demonstrated the principle of concentrated firepower. Although firepower was not advantageous, Li Yunlong gathered all 3,600 grenades from the entire regiment and distributed them to the First Battalion, ordering soldiers to throw them into the enemy's position within one minute after hearing the command, blasting the well-equipped enemy like French fries. For business competition, advertising can be seen as firepower, and the terminal is equivalent to the position. SMEs are like the independent regiment back then, with no advantage compared to strong enemies. In such a situation, rather than copying so-called media mix and terminal complementarity strategies on paper, it's better to concentrate all resources, choose one media, do one type of terminal thoroughly, and tear open a gap in the fiercely competitive market.
  5. Engage with the orthodox, win with the unconventional "Zheng" refers to conventional methods, while "qi" refers to surprise. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," we often see scenes where two armies face off, first sending out a general to duel in front of the formation. After dozens of rounds, one person is exhausted, turns his horse, and flees. The enemy soldiers cheer like today's Super Girl fans. The victorious general, proud and complacent, chases with his halberd or tiger-head sword, but the fleeing general uses a sudden turn and thrust, catching him off guard, hitting his throat, and he falls from his horse, dead. The soldiers behind are silent. Whether in military or business, competition is always full of deception. As mentioned earlier, Duke Xiang of Song was not suitable for war or business. When one's own strength is weak, it is even more impossible to confront a strong enemy with conventional means; otherwise, one will surely perish. "Qi" does not refer to a tactic or method, or a flash of genius creativity, but a global strategy with essential thinking characteristics. Those who can use troops surprisingly in business competition usually have foresight beyond ordinary people and the ability to think essentially. Businessmen often seek quick success and instant benefits; this is not wrong, but the mistake is to play by feeling or blindly follow trends without thinking. To relax the mind and experience essential thinking, please seriously consider the following three seemingly unrelated small questions.
  6. What is the essential difference between walking and running? (Reject answers like speed, stride, and frequency)
  7. Why are the 26 English letters on the computer keyboard we use every day not arranged in the normal order A, B, C...Z, but as we see Q, W, E, R...M?
  8. Without breaking or changing shape, how can you use two matches to form 8 triangles? Many marketing professionals have fully realized that today's business competition has evolved into competition of business models, not just simple advertising, channels, terminals, and other daily visible battles. A well-known air conditioning brand has stopped selling air conditioners in recent years, instead contracting large commercial and residential projects, selling temperature. The air conditioners are not sold; if there is a malfunction, the manufacturer comes to repair. According to customer needs, they provide the desired temperature and charge annually, ensuring spring-like conditions all year round without worrying about breakdowns or excessive electricity bills. As is well known, in China, the Northeast is the origin of ginseng, but if you want to wholesale ginseng, everyone knows to go to Wenzhou, because Wenzhou's ginseng comes from the Northeast but is 100 yuan cheaper than in the Northeast. Why do shrewd Wenzhou people willingly do this losing business? The inside story is this: Wenzhou people first do several large cash transactions with Northeast ginseng merchants to establish cooperative credibility, then use good credit and large purchases to obtain permission for year-end settlement. In this way, the low-priced ginseng brings a steady cash flow to Wenzhou merchants, which they invest in other profitable businesses, enough to cover the price difference. In fact, although "The Art of War" and "Thirty-Six Stratagems" were created by our ancestors, foreigners have studied them more thoroughly and applied them to business earlier. Compared to China's marketing history of only about twenty years, they appear more mature and wise. Decades ago, SONY provided free video equipment to TV stations and news agencies of all sizes in China, until later, when all technical platforms were based on SONY, changing brands became impossible, and they had to buy their exorbitant equipment. Decades ago, Japanese electronics used children's images and voices in Chinese TV ads because they knew that childhood memories affect a person's life. Their actions today are preparing for twenty years later. Such cases are endless in European and American marketing history and continue to emerge, like shining shells on the beach at low tide, easy to pick up. So, when we are still limited to the most superficial level and trapped in the fog, we might as well jump out of the mountain and examine ourselves from a different angle. For the wise, industry experience helps identify more blind spots and points out direction for innovation; for the foolish, it only becomes capital to support confidence and provides more opportunities for mistakes. The reason is simple: the market changes rapidly. What can be called experience often represents a minefield. A marketer who cannot refresh daily is not a qualified marketer.
  9. Attack the Vital Point, Ignore the Rest I don't remember which marketer's high theory it was, roughly meaning: when operating a market, just fully grasp consumers, no need to care about competitors. This sounds reasonable at first, but on reflection, it makes one break out in a cold sweat. On a hill, with seven or eight puppet troops and five or six Japanese squads eyeing you, can the Eighth Route Army ignore them and just charge up? Even if they finally reach the top and plant the red flag, wouldn't their backs be shot full of holes like a honeycomb? Ordinary people know: one shouldn't have harmful intentions, but one must guard against others. Moreover, Old Niu has a classic quote: "If you use five percent of your strength to fight others, others will use twelve percent to fight you." If you don't even fight, you'll be knocked flying with one punch. So, while understanding consumers, media, channels, and terminals, we must know our competitors thoroughly, and be able to judge their next move from every trace of their actions, detect their ambitions, and strangle them in the cradle in time. Since ancient times, many people who read military books rigidly easily draw the fallacy that to defeat the enemy, attack the weakest point. Many marketers also copy this view, resulting in delaying the enterprise and themselves. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," we often see such examples: one side cuts off the other's food supply, then hangs up the truce sign and closes the gate, no matter how the enemy general curses, even if they insult the other's ancestors' women, they don't act impulsively, just wait for the enemy to starve. Sometimes even more ruthless, they cut off the water source and poison the drinking water, forcing the enemy to fight over a horse's urine. Whenever I see such examples, I curse: these bastards are too vicious. From this, it's not hard to conclude that competition should attack the enemy's vital point. As the saying goes: To wrestle, grab the waist; to trip, kick the shin. What is the weakest part of a gecko? The tail! Touch it and it breaks off, but a gecko without a tail still moves freely. What is the weakest part of a centipede? The legs! Break off a hundred or so, and it still runs like a high-speed train. In reality, the weak point is often not the vital point. Those who only stare at others' weak points, I want to throw a Brazilian turtle at them to chew on. The opponent will definitely wrap their vital point tightly, but even if it's protected like an iron barrel, it doesn't mean there's no chance. A hedgehog curls up when it encounters an enemy, like a durian, making it impossible to bite. But the skunk has a way: it farts on the hedgehog, the hedgehog faints, stretches out, exposing its soft belly, and the skunk eats it. Although the skunk's method is not environmentally friendly and its exhaust emissions don't meet Euro III standards, it still achieves its goal. Smart enterprises should learn from the skunk. A friend of mine, who does national OTC recruitment, was once knocked down by a skunk from Wenzhou. At that time, a Wenzhou man claimed to want to be an agent for his product in a prefecture-level market in Hebei. The client naturally gave him the contact of the provincial general agent. Unexpectedly, the Wenzhou man immediately went to the general agent and used a similar product with more favorable conditions to pull the distributor into the water, effortlessly stealing my client's network, causing heavy losses. I don't advocate such lack of business ethics; this example is just to provide a way of thinking and to warn recruitment enterprises to be careful of being outflanked. Those who come to you are not necessarily gods of wealth; they might be painted-face wolves. The key to attacking the opponent's vital point is to first find the vital point through reconnaissance and probing, see through the opponent's tactics, and fully use the six-character formula of "benefit, harm, void, solid, open, hidden" to confuse and mobilize the opponent, making them unknowingly open their gates, then strike fatally when they are unprepared. The six-character formula can be applied to any field where people exist, whether war or business. Although it seems simple, once combined, the mysteries are endless. These six characters are the essence I extracted after reading "The Art of War" and "Thirty-Six Stratagems" hundreds of times. No matter what clever plan, it never goes beyond these six combinations. Interested readers can deduce it themselves.
  10. Wild Wolf Brigade, Flying Tiger Regiment An American officer once commented on China's famous physicist Qian Xuesen: "He alone is worth five divisions." What a supreme evaluation! I have also heard the neighbor's wife use this sentence to evaluate her fat son: "He alone is worth five eaters." Coca-Cola once boasted that if a big fire burned down all its factories globally, it could quickly be reborn with just the brand. This statement has been regarded as a golden rule by countless people, repeated to prove the magical power of brands. In fact, there is no brand that never falls. Recently, the US home market for cola has shrunk significantly because Americans' health awareness has increased rapidly, worrying that drinking too much cola might cause osteoporosis and decreased sexual function. Think about it: if after half an hour of effort, sex is unsuccessful and you break a bone from excessive movement, how unfortunate that would be. As said, brands are not a universal magic weapon. The leader changes; no one knows who will be next. I think even if the brand falls, as long as there is a team with super combat effectiveness and a few loyal generals, it can still turn around. For an enterprise, nothing is more important than talent. Talent is everything for an enterprise. One day, I went to KFC to buy a children's meal for my niece and was surprised to find that the person in front of me was wearing a Dicos uniform, which was a live advertisement for KFC. The image of an enterprise can take many forms, such as ads, posters, products, specialty stores, etc., but the most vivid image and the core essence is still people. Once you become an employee of an enterprise, you should remember that you represent the enterprise's image. You can't pick your nose and wipe it on the table leg in front of outsiders, nor can you flick your toothpick debris far away. In a word, after taking off the uniform, you can be a hooligan, a thief, a pimp, or engage in homosexuality, but as long as you wear the uniform, you must maintain the enterprise's image. Enterprise employees, whether salesmen or general managers, must have a big-picture view and focus on improving their own abilities to reach the level of one against ten. Of course, excellent employees are cultivated by good systems; the system orientation is crucial. A company that can gather people need not worry about not being able to gather wealth. A friend of mine represents a product. Without advertising or promotions, relying only on a few excellent sales guides and good display positions, he still sells well, which proves my point. People are the essence of an enterprise. Excellent enterprises don't need many people; they need elite people. A large infantry division can easily be confused by a small special forces unit. Enterprises must also have the concept of forming special forces, even if this small unit requires high maintenance costs; it's better than raising a bunch of useless people. To the bosses of many SMEs: when you feel the intense competition is suffocating and you almost want to give up, remember this sentence: "When there are no heroes, even a nobody becomes famous." True heroes are always few, so you still have a great chance. Believe that after the carp leaps over the dragon gate, it will welcome spring and become a spring carp. The most important thing is to find the best angle for that vigorous leap. Reply with the following keywords to categorize and read related professional articles: Sales Supervisor, Second-tier Management, Regional Manager, Distributor Management, New Channels, City Manager, Competition, 2015, Manufacturer-Dealer Game, Product Stagnation, Terminal Visit Management, Route Management, Deep Distribution, Internal Management, Sales Skills, Profit Improvement, Recruitment, Distribution, Daily Management, Team Motivation, Trade Promotion, Sales Misconceptions, New Product Launch, Township Market, New Product Pricing, Sales Target Achievement, Closing, Market Visit Inspection, Baijiu, Beer, Sales Increase, Agency Products, Channel Conflict, KA, Terminal Merchandising, New Market, Market Operation, Learning, Book Recommendations, Inventory Management, Sales Novice, Consumer Promotion, Execution, Old Products, Expired Product Handling, Model Market, Recruitment, New Media, Distributor Development, Performance Appraisal, Assessment, Annual Planning, Sales Guide, Morning Meeting, Display, Transformation, Pressure Stock, Holidays, Distributor Cost Control, Channel Operation, Marketing Theory and Laws, Brand Truth, Order Meeting, Team Management, Training, Debriefing, Debriefing Report.