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With the cover of aircraft and artillery, one is airdropped alone onto a battlefield shrouded in smoke, with ruins and devastation everywhere. Calling oneself a 'scout', one looks out and sees only the 'old, weak, sick, and disabled' left behind. It can be said: 'Last night the west wind withered the green trees. Alone I climbed the high tower, gazing far into the horizon.'

I believe that marketing personnel who have been responsible for weak markets will have such feelings and memories: internal and external troubles. Externally, customers lack enthusiasm, have low cooperation, low profitability, slow product movement, no click-through rates, and chaotic pricing. Internally, there is a stagnant sales team with disheartened members, making it very tricky. To resist external threats, one must first stabilize internal affairs. How to build a wild sales team is urgent. Before provisions move, organization comes first.

Characteristics of a weak market sales team:

  1. Effort does not equal reward; more effort, less reward.
  2. No direction, no goals.
  3. Not valued by company leaders, few promotion opportunities.
  4. High personnel turnover.
  5. No enthusiasm, no combat effectiveness.
  6. Poor professional skills.
  7. Severe complaints; being assigned to a weak market is seen as bad luck.
  8. The capable have already left, the average are waiting, and the mediocre stay long-term.

Knowing the causes, one can prescribe the right remedy. The marketing team I built is called the 'Crazy Marketing Team'. Crazy, as the name implies, means unconventional or mentally abnormal, but I believe that 'selling with religious devotion and passionate madness' will surely boost morale and make a decisive push. War is fought on morale and requires the spirit of the shining sword. I summarize the following points:

1. Building a Harmonious Team Environment A drop of clean water in a cup of dirty water results in a cup of dirty water. First, govern and optimize the bad team environment, creating a harmonious and positive one.

Characteristics of a malignant team environment:

  1. Serious small-group consciousness.
  2. Firewalls—newcomers cannot integrate.
  3. Unfair, unjust, and non-transparent salary treatment.
  4. Pretentious people run rampant.
  5. Special people have special rights.
  6. Serious self-serving mentality.
  7. Serious bureaucracy among leaders.

The team environment I create adheres to the management principle: 'The bolder the person, the higher the yield; the capable rise, the average yield, the mediocre fall; the mind determines the pocket; fairness, justice, and transparency.' I discard all excuses and reasons that do not produce results, and judge a person objectively and fairly. Even if a team member does or says something contrary to management art due to ignorance, management should not stop or stifle such behavior based on personal likes or dislikes. One must consider the overall situation: 'He who does not plan for the whole is insufficient to plan for a part; he who does not plan for eternity is insufficient to plan for a moment.' The team slogan I lead is: 'We are special forces, we excel in land, sea, and air operations, and our combat capability cannot be replicated by the enemy.'

2. Building Morale On a narrow path, the brave wins. Dare to draw the sword, be good at drawing it, do not believe in tears, and make a decisive push. Firmly believe that there are no bad markets, only people who do them poorly. As management, you must first have confidence in victory. Even if you encounter objective difficulties in the market, hide them in your heart, and firmly believe: 'When Heaven is about to assign a great task to a person, it first tests his mind with suffering, toils his muscles and bones, starves his body, deprives him of material comforts, and disrupts his actions, thereby stimulating his mind, hardening his nature, and supplementing his abilities.' Even Tang Seng had to endure eighty-one tribulations to obtain the scriptures, let alone us. Eliminate the spread of negative emotions and advocate the fighting spirit of 'fight and lose, lose and fight, the more setbacks, the braver.'

I remember a salesman who, after three months without conquering a special dining terminal, made a vow: 'If I don't take down another dining terminal, I'll die out there.' Sincerity can move metal and stone. In the end, he conquered the terminal, and his subsequent market work was also impressive.

3. Leadership Self-Cultivation A soldier is cowardly alone, but a general cowardly ruins the whole army. As the supreme commander of a team, one must fully exert personal charm and strengthen self-cultivation.

Self-cultivation:

  1. Lead by example and be the first to bear hardships. If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam is crooked. As the ancients said: 'If the person is upright, orders are followed without being given; if the person is not upright, orders are not followed even if given.'
  2. Professional skills and leadership art. Deep water attracts fish; old trees attract birds. To build cohesion and centripetal force, the post-80s generation has become the main force of work. Their desire is to grow. If management's own business skills are mediocre, it is difficult to manage the post-80s, let alone have followers. Conversely, if they can absorb business nutrition from leaders and grow themselves, even if other aspects are not satisfied, they will always follow.
  3. Overcome bureaucracy. Come from the team, go to the team, go deep into the team, truly understand the life and thoughts of each team member, and solve problems promptly. Refuse to be high-profile, and truly provide a strong backing for team members.
  4. Emotional self-control. Absolutely do not define a person in the team based on personal gains and losses, likes and dislikes. This requires strong self-control from managers; otherwise, it is difficult to achieve.
  5. Personal integrity and cultivation. Have a proper work style and no bad habits; otherwise, the whole team will be filled with a foul atmosphere.
  6. Establish self-authority. In action, one must 'say what you do, do what you say, and be decisive.' Authority starts from details, from doing things bit by bit, self-discipline, timely fulfillment of self-promises, and showing dominance over others in times of crisis.
  7. Magnanimity. The size of your heart determines the size of your pattern. Do not worry that teaching apprentices will starve the master. I have seen many leaders who dare not cultivate subordinates, do not guide them, or even suppress them, relying on their own understanding. The problem is that they worry subordinates will surpass and replace them. Perhaps they do not realize that the number of subordinates promoted is also a manifestation of their excellent leadership.

4. Vision and Goals Napoleon said: 'The starting point of all achievements is desire.' Aim high and you will hit the middle; aim middle and you will hit the low; aim low and you will get nothing. This shows the importance of goals. Goals are the driving force for a team to charge into battle. I believe that goal setting should follow these points:

  1. Whether the goal task is reasonable.
  2. Whether the goal is clear.
  3. Whether the goal setting has been communicated and interacted.
  4. Whether the measures to achieve the goal are detailed and implemented.
  5. Whether the reward and punishment measures for achieving the goal are detailed.
  6. Avoid exaggeration and the 'three claps' (clap head before setting, clap chest when setting, clap butt and leave after setting).

5. Personnel Management As the ancients said: 'Look at what he does, observe his motives, and examine what he is at ease with.' Knowing people enables good use. Therefore, use and cultivate people according to their abilities. Selecting, cultivating, using, and retaining people is not easy. I believe the following points should be noted:

  1. Resolutely do not use salespeople who are incompatible with the team culture.
  2. Match people to positions—assign different markets and customers according to personal characteristics.
  3. The art of communication. Everything lies in communication; change communication methods according to the person.
  4. Humanization does not equal favoritism. Do not confuse work and life. A kind general cannot lead troops. Do not equate humanization with favoritism because the market is weak or for various reasons, fearing you cannot retain people. In life, you can care like an elder and solve difficulties, but in work, you must act decisively when necessary, because normal criticism is for better growth, to teach him methods and skills, a life skill, and a money-making ability.
  5. Crisis awareness. Flowing water does not stagnate, and a door hinge does not get worm-eaten. Once salespeople stay for more than a year, slackness and procrastination become serious. Therefore, constantly inject fresh blood or rotate the markets that salespeople are responsible for, keeping the whole team vibrant.
  6. See more, listen less. For reported market conditions, management should verify and supervise more.
  7. Assist salespeople in career planning so they have something to pursue.
  8. Regarding rewards and punishments. Reward should make one ecstatic; punish should make one terrified. Rewards and punishments must be timely and clear. Timely recognition and affirmation are important. Self-satisfaction is placed at the last level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If good and bad are the same, why bother working hard?

6. Execution Regarding execution, opinions vary. I believe execution means continuously tracking, implementing, and reviewing in a repeated process until a behavior becomes a habit. I once observed that at meetings, we talked about terminal vividness construction, but the office's vividness materials had not been moved for half a month. Later, every morning at the door, I required everyone to take a certain number of posters and push-pull stickers, and then every evening I checked the photos they took of what they had posted. After persisting for a month, everyone developed a habit; they felt something was missing if they did not post.

7. Systems Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Systems are standards and levers. Systems cannot be changed overnight. At the same time, there must be laws to rely on, violations must be prosecuted, and enforcement must be strict.

8. Cultivating Learning Ability Aiming is more important than shooting. On the battlefield, one fights fiercely; after the battle, one practices hard to improve combat skills and methods.

Those who are united in heart will win.

  1. Regular meetings and on-site learning. Organize irregular meetings to discuss the latest market dynamics, review gains and losses in work, learn from markets that are doing well in real time, communicate and exchange ideas, and promptly propose improvement plans for the next step.
  2. Training. Stones from other mountains can polish jade. Content includes negotiation skills, customer development and management, route visits, etc.
  3. Summaries. For example, each person in the office writes their experiences and insights in a unified notebook, forming a 'Sunflower Manual'.
  4. Drills. Simulate negotiations.

Water has no constant shape, and soldiers have no constant formation. As long as all unite as one, they are invincible. A weak market will surely become a strong market. Believe in the power of the team.