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I. Introduction: Rich or poor, go home for the New Year

  1. From the fifth day of the first lunar month to the Lantern Festival is the key to a strong start for the year's performance—retailers have cash, empty shelves (sold out during the holiday), and want to restock (as consumption peaks before the Lantern Festival), while competitors' salespeople are still off work (even if they are back, most companies are in meetings, wasting time)...
  2. For ambitious salespeople, this is a golden opportunity to 'pick up bargains'—like a gold brick hitting your head!
  3. So, report on the fourth day, and hit the streets to sell on the fifth. Here's the specific work checklist...

There's an old Chinese saying: 'Rich or poor, go home for the New Year.' Going out to sell on the fourth day of the New Year? That's too ruthless!

II. The Spring Festival for Marketers

Marketers get off work late; on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, they're still on a train with a backpack heading home (not necessarily to their hometown), and if you ask, they're mostly salespeople. Outsiders see marketing as glamorous, full of socializing and corruption. Insiders know it's a life of displacement and hardship. Out of 365 days a year, marketing managers are separated from their families for about 358. Year after year, flowers bloom and fade, but the running never stops. Year after year, the cold wind cuts through, but business trips continue. Sales has no hometown, only daily wounds, and endless time on the road. Heartbreaking things often happen:

For example, at 7 or 8 PM when lights come on in the city, and others are enjoying family dinners, we drag our tired legs through an unfamiliar city, searching for a guesthouse that meets our travel allowance standards... For example, when your wife gives birth and you're not there; you've been on a business trip for months, and when you return, the child has grown... For example, after a year of traveling thousands of miles, you come home dusty, and suddenly realize your parents' backs are hunched, they've aged... At such times, the desire to go home surges, and a voice whispers in your ear: 'Life is short, turn back to the shore; on the shore there's Buddha, and also Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.' It's like a haunting melody that won't go away.

When Spring Festival arrives, after a year of struggle, marketers line up to go home. They give their savings to airlines, stations, and the New Year goods market. They grab a handful of cash, carry a bag of candy to hand out, so the villagers see that Er Gou is doing well outside, and their parents, in-laws, wife, and kids see they can support the family. During the seven-day holiday, they drink, watch DVDs, and play cards. They drink and joke with friends, endless wine and playful money. Let history tell the future: tonight we play cards! They can only go crazy for these few days—after seven days, the release ends, and with twelve gold medals chasing them, if they don't return on time, hmph...! Family reunion and happiness are illusions for marketers, once a year, like a fleeting epiphyllum! To deprive them of even this meager vacation and benefit—how can one bear it? What joy is there in life?

III. The Poor Don't Celebrate the New Year

There's another old saying: 'The poor don't celebrate the New Year.' In this world, many people don't celebrate. On the first day of the New Year, visit tourist spots, entertainment venues, restaurants, hospital emergency rooms, police 110, traffic control... Many are still working hard, even busier. Who the hell doesn't want to have a peaceful New Year? But many can't. The phrase 'The poor don't celebrate the New Year' is vicious and ugly; I hate it myself. The idea that gentlemen are content in poverty and enjoy quiet times is a lie. As the saying goes online: 'If you can enjoy peace here, someone must be carrying the burden for you.'

IV. What Kind of Group Are Marketers, Especially FMCG Marketers, Particularly Mid- and Low-Level Ones?

1. Humble origins (no offense): FMCG salespeople never come from prominent families. Look around you—if a family has any means, they either push their kids into the system, do gray business relying on the system, or inherit the family business as bosses. They wouldn't send their kids to this battlefield.

2. Most are the breadwinners of their families: This job is like a monk's practice, with a male-to-female ratio over 10:1. Everyone you see is a brave man or woman, fierce as beasts. They are the pillars of their families, the main source of income, and the ones 'carrying burdens for others.'

3. This industry doesn't 'cherish the young'; grassroots employees struggle at the edge of society: This industry doesn't 'cherish the young'; the hardest is the grassroots. Many young people join sales with enthusiasm, but reality is cruel. They run around the streets every day, eating boxed lunches, drinking bottled water, smoking cheap cigarettes, and their salary is gone. Day after day, mechanical labor, and they're broke every month. After a year or two with no change, the sense of powerlessness deepens. When luxury cars speed by, they think in despair: even if I struggle like this for 20 years, I still can't afford two wheels of that car. Why is my life so bitter? Why am I a salesperson, not a civil servant? These questions shouldn't be pondered too much; thinking too much brings sadness.

4. This industry doesn't 'respect the old'; longevity brings humiliation: An old Chinese doctor says: I've practiced medicine for 30 years; what illness haven't I seen! An old accountant says: I've done accounts for 30 years; what accounts can't I balance! An old salesperson says: I've sold goods for 30 years, #¥%&*... You chat; I have to go. Finance, design, and medicine are professions where age is valued; you can sell your skills and your age. Sales especially doesn't respect age; it tests physical limits. The higher the position, the more pressure and longer hours. Most people by age 45 don't dare to start a business, don't dare to change jobs, and their physical stamina declines, so their value depreciates rapidly.

5. This industry lacks security: Sales is absolutely judged by success or failure, but success has an element of chance. Even old hands can fail. You might do well as a regional manager, but move to another region and fail! Sales is affected by weather, competitors, product quality, market investment, legacy issues, distributor changes... Too many factors affect your performance. Sometimes you suffer for others' mistakes, sometimes you benefit from others' work. You reap what you sow, but sometimes you get a purgative that wasn't even yours.

Humble origins, being the family pillar, struggling at the edge of society, no security in old age—in short, they are all 'poor' people without security.

V. Don't Pass on Your 'Humble Fate' (Not Derogatory) to Your Children

This 'poverty' is an adjective, but not derogatory. Even if you become a manager with some savings, you can't escape this curse: 'You think about the market even in your sleep, and dream of sales targets. On the surface, you're proud, but inside, you're hurt. Rich at midnight, poor at dawn, anxious like a stray dog.' 'Where is my hometown at dusk? Everywhere are stray dogs. Stray dogs also have nostalgia; stray dogs also want to go home; stray dogs dare not enjoy the New Year in peace.' 'Poverty' isn't shameful, but it is somewhat frightening. It's not that we're too materialistic, but we know the social trajectory too well— In a country where medical and pension security are still incomplete. Under the mainstream value of 'pursuing excellence.' Against the backdrop where education, healthcare, even non-GMO food, air purifiers, and various living necessities favor the privileged and wealthy. Being poor, a street vendor, or even struggling under the urban management... is something you can't laugh about. Fortunately, this era still leaves us a channel to change our class. If you come from a humble background, rise from the fields, and don't want to pass on your 'humble fate' (not derogatory) to your children like your parents did. Or, you just want to provide yourself and your family with a stable life that isn't luxurious but is secure. There are only three paths:

1. Study hard, get into a prestigious school, earn a high degree, study abroad. Then work in high-tech companies, multinationals, media, universities, hospitals... enter mainstream society, enjoy the stability of the system, the high salary and vacations of foreign companies, and savor your intellectual superiority. 2. Start your own business, with a slim chance of success. Many people start businesses, 'work hard for over a decade, and return to the starting point overnight,' then go back to working for others. 3. Join the vast marketing army and fight your way out: Marketing has low entry requirements—if you can take care of yourself, you can do sales, but the meat grinder is hidden inside. A few make it to the top, but more are crushed under the wheels of progress. Many once-prominent figures, just one step from Rome, still wander among the people, struggling to make a living.

Marketers are born with a 'humble fate'; the lucky ones wake up early. They endure hardship in youth to reduce suffering later, and enjoy blessings in youth to avoid depleting them. They pay with the quality of life, youth, and even some physical overexertion. They build reserves in wealth, experience, professional skills, and physical fitness (it's a skill to overexert without endangering health). They make themselves 'nobler,' depreciate later, and seek stability in old age, gaining more security.

Marketers are born with a 'humble fate'; since you've entered this line, you must accept it. Marketing is dangerous; if you don't risk your life, life will risk you! If you do this job, you must suffer; we're all in it, no one is exempt.

Fortunately, there's still hope; if you cultivate success, you can turn your life around, a loser's reversal.

I only hope that our efforts won't be in vain, and even if our hair grays early, we can comfort ourselves at the ends of the earth!

Wei Qing; Author's WeChat public subscription: weiqinglaoshigongsi (pinyin: Wei Qing Teacher Company)

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