I. Interpretation of the Chaos of Lower-Level Information Not Reaching the Top The art of war says, "One who is skilled in war seeks advantage from the situation, not from blaming others." This means the commander should be adept at creating a favorable situation for the army to fight, rather than merely blaming subordinates and forcing them to fight hard. The marketing general manager is the commander. The so-called "responsibility lies in the situation, not in people" means that the marketing general manager should lead the headquarters' R&D, marketing, finance, and logistics departments to serve the frontline. Let frontline personnel have weapons in hand (differentiated advantages, advertising advantages, cost-performance advantages, quality advantages, etc.) and support behind them (promotional support, market material support, logistics, finance, and logistics systems), so they can stand tall and do the market with confidence and without worries. It is no exaggeration to say that if a marketing general manager does not spend at least one week a month walking the market frontline, they do not know what is happening at the frontline. Then the support, services, policies, and assessments they provide to the frontline often backfire and become the reason for declining performance. It can even be a disaster for the marketing team. Everyone understands this truth, but such disasters often happen. Please take a look at these common cases: 1. No advantage in product/price/brand: The company's products have no distinctive features or leading edge over competitors in terms of positioning, functionality, appeal points, channel selection, and price. Employees have no advantage when they go to battle; they can only fight hard with competitors, seeing who posts more posters and who does better displays. Salespeople encounter "sour faces" in all channels and cannot stand tall to speak: small retail store owners say, "Your products are too expensive, I won't sell them"; township distributors say, "You don't have low-priced products suitable for the rural market. If I only sell high-priced products, I can't get enough volume to load a truck, so I won't sell"; wholesalers say, "You've been selling this single product for so many years, the profit margin is too low, I won't sell"; school stores report, "Your product's gifts haven't been changed for a long time, students don't want them anymore, I won't sell"; end customers all say, "You don't have the spicy flavor that's popular here, I won't sell"; distributors say, "You haven't successfully launched a new product in all these years, the profit on old products is getting lower, the reimbursement process is getting longer, there are many damages and no returns or exchanges, I'm losing confidence in you, so I simply won't sell"... 2. Market policies do not match reality: For example, the nationally unified gift is not wanted in this region; the finance department requires formal invoices for display fees, which is actually impossible; prices are not unified among distributors, and the company is not firm enough in punishing cross-region sales, making it impossible for regional managers who don't want to engage in cross-region sales to work; the company suddenly stops in-store promotions, but competitors take the opportunity to offer big discounts, so now the sales promoters stand in the supermarket all day without selling a single bottle, and many want to resign... 3. Headquarters' logistics services have problems: Just as a new product is launched, the company runs out of stock, which is like cutting off the fuel supply and ruining all previous efforts; salespeople fighting on the frontline have to beg the delivery driver to bring some promotional items and take back damaged goods; regional directors face customers' faces outside, but when they return to the company to reimburse expenses and collect promotional items, they have to face the bureaucratic faces of various headquarters departments; distributors who come to the company to pick up goods have to go through procedures for one to two hours, running back and forth to four windows, which makes them very angry, and they vent their anger on the salespeople... 4. Employees have specific difficulties: Frontline personnel are fighting hard in the market without any advantageous weapons, and there are many people at headquarters giving orders and putting pressure, but few can solve frontline problems. The task volume is set high, employees have no bonuses, fines are many, wages are not paid on time and are often delayed, and a sales manager, a young man, has to ask his family for money every month, and his wife is threatening divorce... These chaotic situations sound alarming, but they are everywhere. The root cause is only one: the high officials in the court are far from the frontline and do not know what is happening or what is needed. Hence, "some things are clear to the people below, but the leaders themselves are not clear." II: The Work Model for Lower-Level Information to Reach the Top As a marketing general manager, if you want to be omnipotent, you must first know everything about the frontline. Data analysis from reports can only indicate where problems are; it can never replace your personal visits to the frontline for information collection and market research. Marketing general managers also want to see the frontline themselves, to find some confidence and inspiration, but they have many meetings, reports, and social engagements, so they often say, "When I finish this busy period, I'll go to the market," but it seems they never finish. Time is never enough. What to do? As Li Ka-shing said, "Rob it!" Yes, use time like a robber robbing money, then there must be a way. Here are some good habits and work models for robbing time to keep sensitivity and ensure information flows from the bottom up: Model 1: Routine Market Visits What does routine mean? Every day at noon, whether you're hungry or not, you know it's time to eat (it's rare to forget to eat because you're busy). That's routine. Once a thing becomes a habit and routine, it's easy to persist and get results. I once experienced the painful stage of being a marketing general manager, busy in the office every day, but never having time to go to the market. As a result, the busier I got, the more things piled up (meetings and reports create more follow-up management work), the less I knew about the frontline, and the more excuses my subordinates had, falling into a vicious cycle. Later, an incident taught me a lesson: I had a car accident, a bone fracture, and was hospitalized. It felt like I had eaten 25 live mice—my heart was racing. I was working overtime every day and still couldn't finish, so if I took sick leave, it would be even more chaotic. Every day in the hospital room, I made phone calls to direct work, using up two or three phone batteries. One day, I couldn't stand it anymore. At around 7 p.m., I had the driver take me "sneakily" out of the hospital and straight to the office. At the moment I took out my keys to open the door, a thought suddenly struck me: "Hey, I haven't been here for over ten days, and the company hasn't gone bankrupt? The sky hasn't fallen either." I suddenly realized that these trivial matters that were driving me crazy—if you keep busy with them, you'll never finish them, but if you don't do them, the sky won't fall. From then on, I fixed the 10th to the 18th of every month as my routine market visit time. During this period, I would forward my office phone to my mobile, finish approving documents in advance, tell my secretary not to disturb me unless it's urgent, and have documents requiring my signature sent to my email by 6 p.m. daily, which I would handle at night. Then I'd find a driver who could handle long distances, take me out, and travel around the two lakes, two rivers, northeast, and south China. When I came back, I had a clear picture of what promotional policies to issue next month, which manager to fire or promote, which region to invest in heavily, and which product to increase promotional efforts. It was hard at first, but if you persist, you'll experience that going out for a trip is more effective than a year of meetings in the office. No matter how busy, persist. If time is not enough, rob it. Once it becomes a habit and routine, it's not difficult. By the way, some marketing general managers have regional directors below them. They should also be given routine visit time requirements, "kicked" out to the market instead of staying in the office. During this time, avoid disturbing them (for example, try not to call them back for meetings), so they also have time and space to visit the frontline market. Model 2: Routine Telephone Communication with Distributors Post the phone numbers of distributors nationwide on the wall. Every day after lunch, the marketing general manager picks a distributor's phone number at random and calls for 15 minutes. There's no specific purpose; just chat. When distributors suddenly receive a call from the marketing general manager, are they happy? Do they have anything to say? Distributors always have a lot to say, but no one listens. Is what distributors say meaningful? Absolutely—distributors call to complain about poverty and grumble, but they also have market information. Distributors have a special status; the salespeople may not know competitor information, but distributors do. Distributors are at the frontline; they know what the market needs, whether the company's products sell well, and how to improve them. The company's salespeople may not be clear, but distributors have opinions. Persist in making 15-minute calls every day after lunch. It won't take much of your time or work. You can even lose weight and aid digestion by standing while talking. You'll gain valuable first-hand information and cultivate customer relationships. The key is routine and persistence. Model 3: Message Board to Encourage Employee Participation In "Kangxi Emperor," Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang said, "The most unreliable thing in the world is the memorials of officials." The same is true in enterprises. Many companies collect market information by having salespeople fill out "daily information reports." In reality, as they are passed up layer by layer, most daily information reports contain three words: "no dynamics," "normal," or even "same as yesterday." If you look at yesterday's report, it also says "same as yesterday," and if you go back ten days, it says "no dynamics." Actually, it's not that people don't want to write; it's that no one reads or cares, so gradually it becomes "no dynamics" and "normal." Moreover, even if employees seriously write daily information reports, the salesperson reports to the supervisor, the supervisor to the director, the director to the manager, the manager to the director general, and the director general to the general manager. By the time it reaches the top, the food is already cold, and the end of the world in 2012 has arrived. Let's improve it: 1. Communication Platform: Establish a website message area: employees can leave messages with or without names at any time. Marketing leaders at all levels are required to be online at designated times. Employees can directly report problems or objections to company policies to any superior at any time. Set up a public message area where all employees with passwords can see, and a targeted message area (for example, employees can send messages directly to a designated general manager or director general), which only the recipient can see. This method does not conflict with hierarchical management. The management order must be delegated level by level, but if information feedback strictly follows "level-by-level petitioning," it's like cutting off your own ears and eyes. You must encourage direct upward communication. Not only does it speed up frontline information feedback, but it also creates a management atmosphere. Everyone knows that the internet is more powerful than the discipline inspection committee. Similarly, establishing such a network feedback mechanism in the enterprise can make those with ulterior motives fearful and not dare to act rashly. 2. Communication Platform: Big Blackboard. Hang two big blackboards outside the general manager's door, one named "Market Dynamics Snapshot" and the other "Problems to Be Solved." All sales personnel, whether they come to the company for meetings or to reimburse expenses, can immediately write on the blackboard if there are market dynamics or problems to be solved. After writing, they can sign or not. The general manager will see the market dynamics and suggestions on the blackboard every day. Reward those who provide significant information with signatures. For problems to be solved, carry out a "blackboard erasing campaign"—erase one when it's solved. Unsolved problems remain on the blackboard until they are resolved. 3. Use Communication Platforms to Encourage Employee Participation: To encourage all marketing personnel to participate, the company can stipulate that all employees' computer IP addresses must visit the company website's message area once a day. Reward employees with high posting quantity and quality. Reward those who leave messages on the message area and big blackboard that provide significant information or solve problems helpful to company management. Will employees be interested in participating? Of course. First, everyone wants bonuses. Second, every salesperson is willing to show their face in front of the general manager and leave an impression. Some might even come back to the company specifically to write on the big blackboard content that could have been posted online. 4. Use Communication Platforms: Democratic Centralism. When promotional policies are issued, there will always be some objections from various markets. How to ensure execution effectiveness while accommodating regional market particularities? When the company issues promotional policy documents, give regions a feedback period (e.g., 3 days). Open a dedicated column on the online message board, "Feedback on This Month's Promotional Policy." Regions that cannot implement the unified policy are allowed to explain reasons and propose alternative market plans during the feedback period. If the company does not approve, then firmly implement the unified policy. If the company approves after review, the region's market promotional policy can be changed to suit local conditions. This gives regional personnel a chance to speak and reduces policy costs. Model 4: Tear Down the Walls Between Departments: Salespeople fight on the frontline, and the marketing general manager sits at headquarters to command. Help employees create an environment of good cooperation among logistics support departments to "reduce failures." The specific methods are as follows. 1. Open a column on the big blackboard and online message board titled "Tear Down the Walls Between Departments": Salespeople can write complaints about the logistics, finance, marketing, and storage departments, specific problems to be solved, and suggestions to improve departmental cooperation efficiency. Solve them one by one using the blackboard erasing method. At the same time, arrange dedicated personnel to improve cooperation processes between departments (for example, the finance department should promptly return invoices that cannot be reimbursed to the sales department, with an explanation of why, rather than having salespeople wait months and then go to the finance department to ask). 2. Regularly hold joint meetings between the sales department and logistics, finance, marketing, and storage departments. The meeting name is "Tear Down the Walls Between Departments." At the meeting, everyone brings up specific problems and solves them on the spot. More importantly, formulate improvement processes and ensure their practical implementation. 3. Customer Relationship System: Advocate that all departments are not management departments but service departments for the frontline. The sales department is the customer of other departments. All departments must satisfy the "customer" (sales department) while complying with company rules—implement this in the system: quarterly, sales personnel rate the service satisfaction of related departments and personnel, which is included in the quarterly performance appraisal of that department. 4. Distributor Satisfaction Survey and Feedback: Every six months, headquarters conducts a distributor satisfaction survey, listing all problems distributors have with the company's logistics services, and solves them one by one using the blackboard erasing method. To this end, publish a special issue of a newspaper or an open letter to publicize the results of all solved problems, showing sincerity and educating all company colleagues. Model 5: Grasp the Most Important Work: Terminal Sell-Through The marketing general manager has a thousand tasks. Which one is important? It seems many! Which is the most important? Which ranks first? That is terminal sell-through! No matter how good the data analysis, training, or management, if your product cannot sell through at the terminal, and consumers don't want it when it's displayed in the store, then everything is in vain. Morale will definitely drop, employees can't stand tall to speak, the distributor team will be in chaos, and soon you'll enter a vicious cycle. The first question a marketing general manager should reflect on when visiting the market is: Can my product currently sell through? If the product can sell through, then you have the opportunity to work on channels, management, team, and data. If the product is not bought by anyone at the terminal, then put everything else aside, find experts, ask distributors, hold meetings to discuss, and then run pilots to find methods for sell-through. Believe that even the worst market has bright spots—there are always regions that sell well, terminals that sell well, promotional methods that work, sales promoters who sell well, or product improvement suggestions that can make you sell well. The market has already verified what methods can drive sell-through, but these methods are used on a small scale "among the people," and the people involved are too insignificant to make the method "benefit the world." The marketing general manager, standing at the overall height, must find bright spots, discover sell-through methods, and maximize them. For example: The product price is high and cannot sell naturally, but the pilot proves the product tastes good, and after on-site tasting demonstrations, the product sells easily—so standardize the on-site demonstration method, manage national promoters, and conduct on-site demonstrations; The product's bundled gifts are easily lost. Change to "open the cap and win a prize," embedding the gift "inside" the product to maximize the gift's benefit. The pilot proves this method can drive sell-through—so immediately change the promotion and launch "open the cap and win a prize" nationwide next month; Market X issues discount coupons to the target audience, allowing consumers to buy in supermarkets with the coupons, and the sell-through effect is good—so immediately print discount coupons and promote them across the company... Once a method is proven effective, immediately replicate it to maximize advantages, get the entire company's marketing into a positive cycle, and let salespeople stand tall to speak. Then handle other matters, so you don't put the cart before the horse. Sometimes, as the "honored marketing general manager," you have to personally select product gifts and go to the store to test and explore terminal demonstration methods. Is that a bit exaggerated? Is it making a mountain out of a molehill? No! Sell-through methods are related to the foundation of the company and the long-term cause. In marketing, terminal sell-through is paramount! Attachment: Terminal Sell-Through Model for the Consumer Goods Industry Can Buy—Increase Distribution Rate, Facilitate Consumer Purchase| 1. Distribution rate achieves purchase convenience, increases purchase opportunities, creates popularity. 2. Are target outlets covered?| 1. Sufficient distribution outlets provide consumer purchase convenience, reduce purchase costs (e.g., increase distribution rate, home delivery of milk, door-to-door delivery, automatic vending machines, automatic ticket machines near playgrounds), and create a "hot selling" trend. 2. The channel type, consumption level, and business circle of terminal outlets are suitable for selling this product. At the same time, distribute by product and channel type, control the number of outlets to protect prices. Only outlets meeting these conditions are the true target distribution outlets for this product. | Terminal sales team management: 1. Terminal "three arrivals" concept training (e.g., random display), formulation and training of business standards such as visit standards, display standards, information notification standards. 2. Assess terminal sales personnel on process indicators such as distribution rate, visualization, information notification, and promotion execution. 3. Inspection, ranking, meetings, training, and incentive management system for terminal sales personnel. 4. Supporting promotion management processes, gift and expense management processes, on-site demonstration standards and management processes, etc.| 1. Develop distribution standards, highlight opportunity products, and distribute opportunity products into opportunity outlets and channels that can sell through. 2. Manage distributor personnel and vehicle investment and marketing management, delivery arrival management for distributors, setting up sub-distributors, increasing the visit rate of manufacturer/distributor/sub-distributor sales personnel to terminals, thereby increasing distribution rate. 3. Manage price order, maintain competitive channel profits, ensure the enthusiasm of second-tier distributors, and thereby increase distribution rate. 4. Control the number of distribution outlets, distribute by channel and product to control price order, avoid terminal price conflicts caused by high distribution rates, and ensure outlet quality. 5. Track outlet turnover data (terminal sales ledger, terminal item loss and increase management, automatic computer alarm system for abnormal terminal sales, monthly terminal sales ranking monitoring), continuously invest in best-selling outlets, promptly improve slow-moving outlets, and ensure outlet quality. 6. Use various distribution leverage as much as possible to increase distribution rate; don't give up after one setback. Can See—Terminal Display, Brand Reminder, Promote Consumer Purchase| 1. Does the product's terminal display and visualization meet standards? 2. Can the visualization standards promote purchase?| 1. The product's terminal visualization should stand out from the shelf, achieve an absolutely advantageous display effect, and attract consumer attention. 2. The product's terminal visualization should reflect the product's grade and quality, and daily maintenance should manage defective products, manage freshness with FIFO to promote purchase. 3. Highlight opportunity products with advantageous displays. 4. Display elements should prominently express the product's selling points. 5. Display forms should be convenient for consumers to pick up (e.g., grab prime shelf positions in supermarkets, set tables in hotels, put "Please take freely" signs on display cabinets). 6. Clear price tags.| | Define the company's advantageous opportunity products, define the company's product brand differentiated selling points, define visualization standards, display selling points, highlight opportunity products, inspect and assess terminal visualization, headquarters audits and rewards/penalties for visualization indicators, use visualization acceleration leverage, don't give up after one setback. Visualization expense investment, visualization special project execution (zero-store rewards, poster walls, commando teams, model stores, table settings, etc.) Can Hear—Terminal Store Owner Recommendation| 1. Is the store owner willing and able to correctly recommend the product?| 1. Reasons why store owners are willing and able to correctly recommend: supplier timely service and complaint handling, relatively generous sales profits, accurate notification and communication of profit information, promotional information, and product advantage information, store owners sign sales volume agreements or exclusive agreements with suppliers, certain inventory pressure in the store, listing time and model store effect let store owners see sales expectations | Establish and run customer complaint, record, handling, and monitoring processes; assess terminal information notification rate; sign and maintain terminal agreement stores; execute terminal effective inventory standards; maintain price order and terminal profits; avoid listing time when "off-season is coming"; model store effect Can Hear—Terminal Sales Staff Recommendation| 2. Are sales staff willing and able to correctly recommend the product?| 1. Reasons why service staff are willing and able to correctly recommend: accurate notification and communication of profit information and product advantage information, staff promotions (e.g., bottle opening fees) | Train staff (e.g., waiters, salespeople); formulate and run standard processes for staff promotions (e.g., bottle opening fees) Can Hear—Promoter Recommendation| 3. Are promoters willing and able to correctly recommend the product?| 1. Main reasons why promoters are willing and able to correctly recommend: incentives: salary, competitions, benefits, training: mainly standard scripts, proactive recommendation, communication: accurate notification and communication of profit information, promotional information, and product advantage information; daily standards, inspection, rewards/penalties, meetings, management| Formulate promoter incentive and assessment systems; promoter on-duty rate (on duty, adapt to supermarket shift requirements, double-shift promoters); promoter equipment: hand clappers, loudspeakers, demonstration products, sample products, etc.; promoter incentives: promoter commissions issued by distributors are prone to interception; the company should check the distribution of promoter commissions and manage the effect to ensure promoters receive high commission income; standards: display standards (most important is selling point display), gift bundling standards, report standards, etc.; management initiative: who handles promoter salary payment procedures, who trains promoters, who holds sales champion competitions for promoters, who inspects and rewards/penalizes promoters for standard execution, who holds meetings for promoters, and whether promoters can be taken to visit the company—these actions determine whether the management initiative of promoters is in the hands of the distributor or the manufacturer Can Think—Consumer Specified Purchase| 1. Can consumers think of it—willing to actively purchase the product?| 1. Main reasons why consumers can think of it—willing to actively purchase: product differentiated appeal, advertising communication, terminal image display, resonance with consumer emotions or other needs; maintain terminal guide price target so the target consumer group can afford it; sustain (for sufficient time) product distribution, display, and store recommendation work to provide purchase convenience and brand reminders; consumer promotion forms—probability promotions like lucky draws; attached gift promotions like discount coupons (with product knowledge printed on the back) and bundled gifts; functional promotions like on-site experience of product value, on-site demonstrations, tasting, sampling, etc. Promotion notification and display: consumers actually see and feel the gift benefits; promotion redemption: convenience for consumers to obtain gift benefits (whether redemption is troublesome); demonstration effect of consumption leaders| Selling point extraction, advertising communication, image PR; formulate terminal guide price, establish terminal price maintenance reward and penalty system; continuously execute "terminal three arrivals"; interception, PR, and promotion of consumption leaders; probability prize promotion information dissemination, deep dissemination and hype of grand prize winning information, management of small prize redemption and distribution; functional promotion sampling, standard setting and execution of on-site demonstrations; promotional gift information notification, selling point display, gift display, gift benefit redemption Review: Planning the situation is better than seizing momentum. How to avoid losing direction under the pressure of a thousand tasks? Still, "one who is skilled in war seeks advantage from the situation, not from blaming others." The key is to ensure lower-level information reaches the top, connect with reality, and leverage the wisdom of the masses.

  1. Routine market visits.
  2. Routine telephone communication.
  3. Establish a message board with democratic centralism to encourage employee participation in governance.
  4. Use communication platforms to tear down walls between departments.
  5. Always focus on terminal sell-through, discover sell-through methods, and maximize advantages. Following the above five models, persisting until they become routine, can help the marketing general manager grasp the essence of marketing work and complete the most productive tasks first. Originally published in: "Business Review" magazine, 2010, Issue 9. This article is reprinted from the public account: Teacher Wei Qing. Long press the QR code below to follow: Editor's PS: The editor has selected 1,067 articles from nearly 1,900 published on this public account, divided into 14 categories and 57 knowledge points, systematically organizing frontline marketing management content into a library for everyone to learn. From market to customers, focusing on practical combat and management, all are dry goods. Follow the public account and reply with the number "1" to browse related content.