Click 'Read Original' for details. Every salesperson wants to become a marketing general manager and reap higher rewards; every marketing general manager started as a salesperson to achieve their current success! How to do it? Read the following ten essential guides carefully, and you will surely gain insights!

01 Training Ability As an excellent marketing professional, possessing certain training skills is very important. The foundation of training ability is a certain level of public speaking skill. A good speech can comprehensively express the company's philosophy, development ideas, product advantages, and market operation plans, thereby driving work progress. How to build training ability?

  1. Use all platforms and seize opportunities to practice your eloquence and improve your language organization and expression.
  2. Learn from industry experts or outstanding speakers to improve yourself.
  3. Systematize the knowledge you accumulate daily, summarize it in writing, and illustrate with actual cases to rapidly enhance your proficiency. Of course, there will be more effective methods tailored to you. The goal is to leverage strengths, overcome weaknesses, and enable yourself to train customers and their teams more, boosting product sales and market development.

02 Planning Ability As the saying goes: 'You won't go hungry from eating or dressing, but without planning, you'll be poor for generations.' This shows that planning is extremely important, whether in top-level design, product structure, or market operations. For example, in market planning, there are products for rapid market introduction, products for channel building, and products for dealers to profit in the mid-to-late stages—all require scientific planning. At the same time, excellent FMCG marketing professionals should also provide advisory planning for customers' businesses, including delivery routes, team building, and product portfolio planning. They should design plans for volume-driving products, short-lived 'cannon fodder' products, and long-term profitable products to ensure the steady growth of customers' businesses, integrating into their operations with planning suggestions. When customers' businesses thrive and their operational capabilities improve, they will also sell our products better. At work, superiors should also plan for subordinates, such as travel itineraries and market development paths. To do this well, you need to strengthen your own planning ability.

03 Foresight In marketing work, it's common for marketing directors to plan for a year, regional managers for six months, and area managers or sales representatives to look only one to two months ahead. This reflects differences in foresight. Stand high to see far; focus on the big picture while starting with small steps. Don't only look at immediate gains in work arrangements, ignoring long-term development. In Zhoukou, there is an entrepreneur, General Manager Zhang, who is over sixty. This year, he collaborated with a university on a project that can dissolve plastic products in a short time without harming the earth. More importantly, this project may only yield returns in ten years. Also, Uni-President's 'Tom Yam Noodles' (汤达人) was launched years ago but only began to show its strength in 2015-2016. Therefore, when developing and maintaining markets, marketing professionals must adopt a long-term approach, at least with a one-year mindset for market building. Avoid short-term, quick-fix tactics, and don't be like the high jump in sports—going up fast and coming down even faster, hurting yourself. Be like a long-distance runner: only those who persist to the end are the victors.

04 Control Ability We often say: As long as the direction of events doesn't exceed our control, there won't be major problems. However, in marketing work, there are often markets where control is insufficient. For example, when launching new products, if you can't quickly push them into customers' warehouses, or if customers say they'll pay soon but days pass without news, these are signs of weak control. Sometimes we shout: 'Master the terminal, channels win.' The question now is how to gain strong control. 1. Master consumer needs: Maintaining constant communication with end consumers is something marketing professionals must do. This allows consumers to know your product, increasing your control, and also lets you understand their true demands. 2. Control the customer's lifeline: Although grasping consumer needs can solve product sell-through, due to the specific nature of supply-demand relationships, it's easier for downstream companies to switch upstream partners, while upstream companies find it harder to firmly retain downstream purchasing customers. To firmly control customers, we must grasp their lifeline, which is also the end consumer. Therefore, excellent marketing professionals work around end consumers. All promotional items, publicity materials, etc., should be targeted at consumers. Recognizing this essence can help marketing professionals overcome confusion and obstacles. 3. Become the customer's reliance: The first two points above are from the customer's perspective. The next point requires the company to directly influence customers or channel partners. Because even if a company controls consumers, it only ensures its own safety and a certain initiative, but full control over customers still lacks strength. Understanding consumers, producing good products, and capturing customers will naturally make you welcome to downstream manufacturers. However, welcome does not equal loyalty. In non-monopolistic industries, when cooperation encounters conflicts of interest, partner customers or channel partners often turn against the company without hesitation. Or when the company faces difficulties, customers often abandon it to protect themselves. More often, customers or dealers grow strong and start to bully the manufacturer. At this point, the company often feels contradictory and distressed, because if customers or channel partners are weak, they can't effectively sell the company's products; if they become strong, they may in turn constrain the company. To resolve this contradiction and retain customers, implement the strategy of 'weaken their will, fill their bellies, reduce their ambition, strengthen their bones'—that is, help customers make money, enrich their pockets, but weaken their independence, gradually making them rely on the company. Eventually, the company becomes the crutch for customers to make money, and they won't leave you. Doing this greatly reduces the company's switching costs and effectively controls risks. Specific methods include providing various forms of help—sales advice, information sharing, joint sales, reducing customers' time costs, accelerating cash flow, reducing inventory risks, offering intellectual support, and even emotional support. By helping customers make money and save money, they will gradually form a reliance on the company and find it hard to leave such a high-quality enterprise. The above aspects can effectively enhance marketing professionals' control ability. I hope every marketing professional can maintain control when facing difficulties.

05 Distribution Ability 'Down with the local tyrants, divide the land.' A single 'divide' united people of all ethnic groups closely around Chairman Mao, successfully overthrowing the 'Three Mountains' and establishing New China. In marketing work, we face various distributions: whether to divide regions or products among customers, how to distribute channel profits to motivate channel partners, and how to scientifically allocate power, responsibility, benefits, risks, and regions for regional managers. This must be done without affecting motivation or causing problems from excessive power. Should distribution be based on work, need, or merit? Oppose egalitarianism, but also prevent excessive disparity. This requires the distributor to establish a comprehensive distribution system. In enterprises, the distribution of equity and dividends is also very important. Learning distribution skills and doing top-level design well cannot be underestimated in driving overall marketing work!

06 Execution Ability First-class creativity meets third-class execution, and the consequences can be disastrous. Third-class creativity meets first-class execution, and results can be expected. Two key points to enhance marketing professionals' execution: 1. Institutional execution. Use the company's systems and discipline to ensure execution is in place. As the saying goes: 'Three parts strategy, seven parts execution.' Perfect the systems and strictly enforce them. 2. Emergency execution. Some markets may have a large amount of near-expiry products, or sometimes personnel at certain levels may irresponsibly resign quickly. At such times, excellent marketing professionals demonstrate special execution and high-level standards to handle emergencies. Break through three major obstacles to execution: 1. Attitude issues. In execution, some people go through the motions, are complacent, lack ambition, and just go through the motions like a monk ringing a bell. They execute passively, moving only when pushed. They avoid market problems and don't handle customer difficulties. 2. Capability issues. They lack the ability to discover, analyze, and solve problems. They have no original ideas, narrow thinking in marketing, few methods, and lack the spirit of pursuing excellence. 3. Integrity issues. They lack a sense of the big picture, executing only what benefits them, and not executing what doesn't. They say one thing to your face and do another behind your back, spreading negativity instead of positivity. By self-correcting, self-persisting, and self-breaking through these two key points and three obstacles, you can improve.

07 Learning Ability Three elements of learning: motivation, perseverance, and capability. The purpose of learning is to convert knowledge resources into knowledge capital. As the saying goes: 'Live and learn.' A key point in learning ability is: learn what you lack. Learning is like a patient seeing a doctor: you go to the hospital to treat a specific illness, not to cure the whole body. Similarly, in learning, you learn what you don't have. There are many learning platforms in society now. How should marketing professionals learn well? What should they learn? First, choose a suitable teacher. Anyone famous in the industry has had good teachers guiding and promoting them. In the arts, having a good teacher is remarkable. Guo Degang's disciples surpass those without teachers, even if some performers are highly skilled, because good teachers provide immense resources. Also, in ancient times, martial artists would often say, 'I study under so-and-so,' which made communication easier. Second, apply what you learn. Learning is for better work. Learn knowledge that you can use immediately, not lofty, fake, or empty things. Learn practical knowledge that fits your work and can be quickly applied. As for what content to learn, marketing professionals should choose based on their career stage. Learn from others' wisdom to perfect yourself.

08 Tracking Ability If sales aren't tracked, everything ends in vain. Marketing professionals without tracking ability often start strong and finish weak, with much thunder but little rain, or even no rain at all. In marketing work, companies mostly advocate: 'Don't talk about hard work without results, let alone fatigue.' How do sales results appear? Through strong tracking ability. The author previously developed a customer in Luoyang by persistent tracking, which took three months. During that period, I kept calling, made timely visits, and finally secured the cooperation! Therefore, in marketing work, you must build strong tracking ability, never giving up until the goal is achieved. This will improve business progress. Of course, you also need to build a larger customer database and reserve more customer resources to have tracking targets. This is also the necessity of building a marketing big data system.

09 Service Ability Service ability is the vitality of enterprise development. In a company, product quality is life, innovation is revolution, and service is longevity. With good products, quality customers, and loyal consumers, if there is no thoughtful service, the business's lifespan will be short. How can marketing professionals do service work well? 1. Have a service mindset. In marketing work, after customers pay, the rest is for marketing professionals to provide service: report orders accurately and timely, coordinate shipments on schedule, bring all materials and promotional items with the goods, and provide service guidance on price, channels, etc. In the catering industry, the famous hotpot company Haidilao can be called 'extreme' service. Why has it thrived for so many years? It's because of strong service ability. Are their dishes, flavors, and meats very different from other restaurants? Not necessarily. The strength lies in service. 2. Have service skills. We often say that companies can let customers rely on them, but not let them become dependent. You must master the skills and limits of service. For example, dealer resources include people, money, vehicles, and warehouses. Manufacturer marketing professionals can guide, advise, and supervise these aspects, but shouldn't do everything, otherwise dependence will arise. A wise marketing professional, like a party representative, mobilizes the masses, encourages the advanced, and provides guidance—this is also a form of service.

10 Thinking Ability Deep thinking is more important than diligence! There are two kinds of laziness: physical laziness and mental laziness. For marketing professionals, mental laziness is more frightening than physical laziness. Therefore, an excellent marketing professional needs thinking ability and deep thought on several aspects:

  1. How can our customers make money from the products I provide?
  2. How can I contribute to the company's development, and what suggestions can I offer?
  3. Think about five points: (1) Is the product structure reasonable in market layout? How can it be more reasonable? (2) Is my team's combat effectiveness strong? How can it be stronger? (3) How can I increase the number of markets? How can I improve market quality? (4) Have I made profits for the company? Can I make more? (5) How can I complete my monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks? After deep thinking, you can deploy work according to the path, quantify progress, and achieve goals.

In summary, acquiring and improving the 'Ten Essential Guides' is not achieved overnight. It requires continuous self-enhancement and a long-term, persistent effort. To do marketing work well, you must excel in dealing with people. If you succeed in tasks but fail in relationships, it's temporary; if you succeed in relationships but fail in tasks, it's also temporary. How to be a good marketing professional? Summarize in twelve characters: Broad-minded, united in purpose, and upright in conduct. Only with a big heart, big dreams, big vision, and big goals; let go of immediate petty gains—no sacrifice, no gain; small sacrifice, small gain; big sacrifice, big gain. At the same time, unite all those who can be united, combine all forces that can be combined, and be consistent in words and deeds, aligning knowledge and action, to find a suitable platform for development. Finally, always be upright and distinguish public from private. Uphold professional ethics, defend professional integrity, and be clear in conscience in all matters! Success is certain!

Source: Sales and Market -END-