Introduction: In 2013, the entire white liquor market heard "the wolf is coming," and the competitive landscape underwent tremendous changes, making regional competition even fiercer. Many salespeople, when facing new markets, often inherit "rotten markets" riddled with problems. How should we deal with such markets?
Through research and summarization of problem markets, we found that almost all problem markets generally exhibit the following issues:
- Many legacy issues from previous market operations
- Products experiencing local incompatibility or price undercutting
- Market chaos and weak foundations
- Intense competition where the brand lacks influence, leaving no foothold for our brand
- Uncooperative clients or numerous client issues, with a severe lack of mutual trust
- Paralyzed marketing teams
If any of the above issues exist, the market you are about to take over can be deemed a problem market. If your regional market has multiple or all of the above issues, then your market is in terrible shape. At this point, a "positive mindset" is fundamental to solving problems because "confidence is often more important than gold." Only by "adjusting your mindset, facing challenges actively, conducting comprehensive research, prescribing the right remedy, and seeking support" can you resolve these issues.
Facing such terrible markets, we must possess two mindsets:
- A calm mind—don't put too much pressure on yourself.
- A proactive mind—take the initiative to integrate various resources to solve problems.
Step 1: Conduct Comprehensive Market Research Comprehensive market research is the foundation for solving problems. Every problem has its root cause, and identifying that root cause is the basis for resolution. Creating a detailed and comprehensive market research report is the first action to address the worst markets. A thorough and detailed report should cover the following aspects:
1. Market Status Analysis:
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Basic data research of the regional market | Including administrative divisions, population, consumption levels, various economic indicators, number of various terminal customers, sales and proportions across channels, etc. |
| Historical sales data analysis | Including year-on-year sales growth analysis, growth analysis by price band and product item, inter-channel sales data analysis, inter-regional sales data analysis, etc. |
| Regional market characteristics analysis | Including consumption structure analysis, purchasing habits (product color, packaging materials, size, etc.), purchasing power analysis, etc. |
2. Market Competition Pattern Analysis:
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Competitive situation analysis | Including analysis of market operation strategies, marketing tactics, and competition intensity adopted by our and competing products in the current market. |
| Competitor status analysis | Including detailed analysis of competitors' product portfolio design, pricing positioning, channel strategies, promotional methods, and other specific market conditions. |
| Major competitor analysis | Including analysis of major competitors' market competitive advantages and disadvantages, historical sales data, specific channel involvement, product portfolio strategies, pricing strategies, promotional strategies, etc. |
3. Market Development Trends and Potential Analysis:
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Overall market direction analysis and forecast | Including analysis and forecast of overall market demand changes, consumption habits, and purchasing habit changes. |
| Major segment market development trends and forecasts | Including development forecasts for various sales channels within the region, consumption structure development forecasts, etc. |
| Our product market development forecast and discussion | Including forecasts and discussions on the market adaptability of product portfolios, rationality of product pricing positioning, rationality of channel planning, and targeting of promotional strategies. — Purpose: To seek the causes of market problems and explore market development potential. |
Through the above market research, we can gain a general understanding of the reasons behind the problem market. The remaining task is to fundamentally solve the specific market problems through effective means and measures.
Step 2: Seek Support Seeking support is an effective means to solve problems. A market becomes terrible for multiple reasons, and relying solely on personal effort makes it difficult to improve the market in a short time. The most effective way to solve problems is to seek support from multiple sources. Internally: your predecessor, various company departments, and current colleagues (including superiors, peers, and subordinates). Externally: clients, former colleagues, and industry friends. All of these are potential sources of support.
- Your predecessor and leaders can help you effectively analyze the root causes of market problems and provide constructive suggestions for solving them.
- Gaining effective cooperation from various company departments can help you obtain more sales policies and authoritative influence, accelerating the resolution of market problems.
- Clients are catalysts for solving market problems; every step they take forward will have a huge impact on your work progress.
- A market cannot be changed by one person alone. Only by having your colleagues fight alongside you can problems truly be resolved. This is the fundamental solution.
Step 3: Implement Targeted Market Operation Measures A market becomes terrible for a reason. To find and solve problems, we must prescribe the right remedy and implement targeted market operation measures.
1. How to Face Legacy Market Issues? Attitude Matters More Than Resolution Legacy issues often arise from poor communication, empty promises, and artificial delays. To resolve them, follow this process: Your attitude toward resolving legacy issues directly affects the degree of resolution. Your attitude is more important than the final outcome. When dealing with legacy issues, we must maintain an attitude of integrity, communication, and full commitment, striving to minimize the damage. At the same time, demonstrate your ability and attitude in solving market problems during the process, gaining attention and recognition from all sides, and establishing authority for future market operations.
2. How to Face Product Incompatibility?
- Reverse thinking: Product sluggish sales often have deep-rooted causes. We need to reverse-engineer the factors that lead to our product's poor sales and competitors' strong sales to find the root cause.
- Product segmentation strategy based on market research: Through market research, develop and explore marketable product combinations or items.
- Implement product promotion strategies based on regional market characteristics: According to market consumption structure, consumer purchasing habits, etc., divide product promotion channels and implement corresponding promotional strategies.
3. How to Face "Market Chaos and Weak Foundations"? Regional market chaos often stems from problems in price and channel management. Weak market foundations are mostly due to poor product movement, insufficient brand image building, lack of necessary market promotion measures, and weak brand influence. To solve market chaos and weak foundations, we must address the following:
- Establish good price positioning and plan a sound price system.
- Strictly control product channel flow and segment product channels—this is an effective way to resolve market chaos.
- Use necessary market operation tactics and measures to create marketing momentum for product promotion within the region, ultimately driving sales growth and enhancing the product's regional brand influence, thereby effectively improving the regional market foundation.
4. How to Face "Intense Competition Preventing Our Product from Entering the Regional Market"?
- Do a good job in brand positioning and attack planning. That is, before entering the regional market, plan the product's positioning and the upcoming attack strategy to avoid blind attacks.
- Implement a blue ocean strategy. By establishing brand positioning, find blank markets and strategic gaps in the region to avoid premature vicious competition over resources.
- Conduct market segmentation, find breakthrough points, launch concentrated attacks, and achieve breakthroughs at specific points, eventually expanding from points to the whole area for a full counterattack.
5. How to Face "Uncooperative Clients"? The reasons for regional client non-cooperation generally include:
- Low profitability from the brand
- Legacy market issues
- Insufficient brand influence
- Many brands in operation, leading to insufficient attention to our brand
At this point, regional managers can "handle" clients through the following means:
- Integrity: Sincerely help clients solve market problems.
- Hope: Give clients hope by handling one or two market issues or implementing market operation measures, showing them the possibility of resolving legacy issues and improving product profitability.
- Pressure: Put pressure on clients to push them to change their passive non-cooperative state.
- Cold treatment: When all operational measures fail, consider low-key approaches and time delays to dilute the problem; respond to changes with constancy, turning passivity into initiative.
6. How to Face "Paralyzed Marketing Teams"? When facing a paralyzed marketing team, dismissal and effective incentives are effective means to improve the current team. Recruiting new people to inject fresh blood and establishing a comprehensive training and performance appraisal system are guarantees for continuous team improvement.
By implementing the above steps, a new regional manager can confidently face problem markets and resolve market crises. Finally, I want to emphasize the six abilities that an excellent regional manager must possess to face problem markets:
- Ability to work under pressure
- Ability to let data speak
- Ability to integrate resources
- Ability to coordinate clients and market issues
- Necessary market operation skills
- Ability to quickly build a marketing team
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