This article is excerpted from the book "FMCG Veterans All Do This: Regional Manager Operation Tips" by Mr. Fang Gang. To purchase this book, please click "Read Original". For a company, regional market managers are important organizational units in the marketing system. Specific marketing actions are basically executed through this level, making it the fundamental point of the marketing system. Thus, improving the capabilities of regional market managers is a key part of corporate marketing. (1) Definition of a regional manager: the person who leads troops into battle. "War is a matter of vital importance to the state; a matter of life and death, a road to survival or ruin, and must be examined with the utmost care!" (2) The enterprise is like a feudal state. The current market is in the Warring States period of marketing, where melee is the theme and industry concentration is the goal. (3) The goal of war is peace. When industry concentration reaches a certain level, marketing begins to weaken. Downsizing during peacetime is very normal. (4) Viewing marketing from the perspective of war, marketing is a process of attack and defense. (5) Brand is the will of the people. Think: Combine the orthodox with the unconventional; uphold the orthodox and employ the unconventional! "Orthodox" refers to leading troops (management), "unconventional" refers to fighting battles (marketing tactics)! Those who can fight, can you lead troops? Responsibilities of a Regional Market Manager Think: Job standards are important, but what kind of job standards are needed to cultivate a qualified regional manager? Even with such standards, can a batch of qualified regional managers be trained? From a theoretical perspective, various versions of regional market manager job responsibilities have long existed, even detailed to specific industries or companies. However, when we seriously engage with these managers, we find that only a few can fully recite their responsibilities. Even if they can, the company's job responsibilities are either incomplete or the standards do not match actual work. For example, a regional manager job responsibility standard in the beer industry: (1) Execute the company's marketing strategy and plan regional market development. (2) Formulate the regional marketing plan and break down sales targets. (3) Provide accurate information on market trends, demand changes, competitors, and customer feedback. (4) Supervise the construction of offices and business development, ensure the recovery of regional payments; supervise the implementation of the marketing center's sales policies and the execution of various systems. (5) Control the expenses of the regional offices, directly participate in and host negotiations and transactions with important customers. (6) Train and guide business personnel, evaluate subordinates' work, and assist in formulating and implementing performance improvement plans. Problems with the above job standards: (1) Although they are the company's own job guidance standards, they are not targeted and are almost suitable for all FMCG industries. (2) These standards do not fully describe the actual work of regional managers. Most importantly: Job responsibilities only provide "daily work" guidance for regional managers, meaning they can only make them work for the sake of work, not provide help in actual combat, lacking practical operational guidance. The uncertainties in regional managers' actual combat vary with individual personality and market conditions, making it impossible to set standards for each person. So how to solve this problem? We use the beer industry as a template to analyze the job responsibilities of regional managers from a practical perspective: (1) Marketing itself is an industry with a wide coverage, requiring generalists, and the industry changes rapidly. Even if the work of regional managers could be accurately described, it would be very complex, boring, and not easy to remember. Moreover, it must meet the needs of people with various comprehension levels, requiring a high level of writing organization. (2) The biggest drawback of written standards is not whether they can be comprehensively described, but whether they can ensure accurate execution. The large amount of information in marketing work makes standards complex, and complex standards easily lead to "routine coping" in execution, eventually turning these so-called standards into waste paper. (3) The purpose of job standards is to guide action, thereby making the marketing team's goals consistent and actions unified. (4) Marketing work is carried out in a dynamic, uncertain time and space. Many people in this industry feel unconstrained. In actual contact, many marketing executives lament: "These guys are impossible to lead; they are simply a bunch of bandits." The biggest characteristic of bandits is that they dislike too many rules and regulations. So, can companies bypass this level? When we look at the problem from a different angle, things become simple. Since the market is a battlefield, the marketing team is an army. Using the mindset of managing an army to regulate these "bandits" naturally simplifies things. In the army of the corporate marketing system, regional market managers are officers at various levels. The duty of "officers" is nothing more than leading troops into battle. The process of battle is a process of attack or defense. In other words: attack—opening up territory; defense—protecting the homeland. So what are the "troops" that regional managers lead? First, the direct troops. Including office (business department) directors, salespeople, promoters (stockers), and other brothers. Second, the mercenaries. Channel members include first-tier distributors, second-tier distributors, and even terminals. They are called mercenaries because these "soldiers" have no blood relationship with the enterprise. Compared to the former, they have weaker combat effectiveness, loose discipline, and lack the ability to conquer cities and territories, but they are suitable for logistics and transportation work. How can these "troops" be led well? (1) Make a three-point agreement and follow up with assessment. Let them (especially the mercenaries) eat, and even drink big bowls of wine and eat big pieces of meat when conditions allow, but only on the basis of doing the work well (assessment follow-up). An army that cannot even eat cannot be led, unless the whole world cannot eat. (2) The way to govern the army is to have clear rewards and punishments! Employees do not do what they hope for, but what is assessed. Assessment must be linked to interests, and the same applies to mercenaries. When they get "cash," they must understand where the cash comes from, that is, understand that their income is proportional to their efforts. Assessment should focus on long-term "cash" security, making mercenaries understand: as long as they take the hill, there will be wine, meat, and cash. To do this, you must keep your word and not rely on "hype." (3) Strict military discipline, teach first, then kill! After clarifying military discipline, continuously train and inform. Those who knowingly violate the law should be executed in front of the whole army. However, military discipline should not be too harsh; individual minor mistakes in skills can be ignored, as long as training is followed up. (4) Appropriate elimination. The camp is iron, the soldiers are flowing water. New soldiers have inherent advantages over veterans in execution. Continuously infuse fresh blood to improve the execution of the whole army! (5) Expansion has a "limit." Enterprise development and management development must be synchronized. If "expansion" is too fast, it will cause disconnection in management or capital. -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Focusing on providing professional, practical, and applicable tutorials for enterprises and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operation | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales improvement techniques | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operations management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution techniques | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operation methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new salespeople | 015 Internet, brand | 016 Distributor B2B transformation | [Long press QR code to follow]