Life must go on, whether for best-selling brands or non-best-selling ones, the off-season is always tougher. Are there any tricks to make this off-season under the financial crisis more bearable?
- Business is slow, but people are not. Marketing personnel cannot rest.
"Only the thought of an off-season exists, not an off-season market!" This is a phrase experts use to fool manufacturers. The off-season is indeed the off-season. If the baijiu industry truly had no off-season, industry sales revenue would increase by at least one-third, if not double. We admit the off-season, but that doesn't mean it's time to rest. Even the health wine industry, under current market competition, has no time to rest, let alone the traditional baijiu industry.
In the off-season, there are fewer tasks and sales decline, but these should not become excuses for marketing personnel to take time off or find reasons to rest and do as little as possible. Mental paralysis is the biggest enemy of market decline. Therefore, when the off-season arrives, we advocate that marketing personnel should not stop. Instead, they should tighten their own constraints, seek opportunities to sell wine, do solid basic work, practice their basic skills, participate in learning, and improve their business skills.
The biggest difference between off-season and peak-season work for marketing personnel is that off-season work does not show immediate sales improvement, which tests employees' psychological endurance and the long-term strategic vision of the team and individuals. Peak-season work shows direct sales improvement, giving employees a sense of achievement. Also, bonuses are linked to performance, so salespeople's income is considerable, and their enthusiasm naturally rises. The company also pays less attention to whether employees are working. In my view, assessing whether a salesperson is qualified is better done in the off-season, as it truly tests their market skills.
Therefore, the most important thing for companies to do in the off-season is to train the team's real skills and build momentum for peak-season sales.
- Market is slow, but promotions are not. Maintain regular promotions.
Should we still do promotions in the off-season? Definitely! Some manufacturers think that since it's the off-season, even if they do promotions, sales won't increase, so they might as well not do them to avoid wasting resources. This is the thinking of those who don't understand the market or consumer psychology. In the off-season, not only should we do promotions, but we should also value their role in stimulating the off-season market. How to do off-season promotions? What are the principles?
- Emphasize novelty rather than artificially pursuing too much intensity. Many companies believe that without strong promotions in the off-season, they can't attract channels and consumers. This is a misunderstanding. In terms of current consumer psychology, consumers are used to being influenced by promotions. If one product doesn't offer benefits while another does, consumers easily switch, especially during on-site purchases. This is why terminal interception works and why everyone does promotions.
Understanding consumer psychology, we see that promotions don't need to be intense but should be novel, giving consumers a feeling of getting a bargain compared to usual purchases. For example, a 500ml bottle of wine sells for 68 yuan, and a 125ml bottle sells for 10 yuan. If you do a promotion, you might raise the price of the 500ml bottle to 75 yuan and offer a buy-one-get-one-small-bottle-free promotion. Is this intense? Not really, but consumers still feel they benefit because it's cheaper than buying two bottles separately. And the manufacturer hasn't increased the promotion intensity at all.
- Do more interactive consumer promotion activities. If the off-season promotion is not for cash flow recovery or easing financial pressure, it's best not to do channel inventory-pushing promotions. Focus on consumer promotions. Whether for best-selling or non-best-selling brands, this is the most basic principle.
Of course, limited promotions for core channels should not only be done but also executed purposefully and strategically to achieve truly effective sales, retain core channel partners, and cultivate distribution resources for peak-season volume.
- Price increases are also a form of promotion. When we talk about promotions, we usually think of gifts or discounts. That's conventional thinking. True promotion design experts prefer to use one or two products for price-increase promotions in the off-season. Some may question: if it doesn't sell in the off-season, won't a price increase make it even harder? This is a misunderstanding. For best-selling products, an off-season price increase helps establish a new price system for consumers and channels, laying the groundwork for a successful peak-season price increase. For non-best-selling products, an off-season price increase has even less impact since they don't sell anyway. The impact on channels and consumers is minimal. But as the peak season approaches and your new positioning forms, you have more room to operate, making market operations smoother. So, I prefer to implement price-increase promotion strategies in the off-season, but the key is to grasp the extent of the increase and use inventory control strategies.
If you don't do promotions in the off-season, the market is quiet. Consumers and channels need constant stirring. The more you stir, the deeper the impression, and when the peak season comes, they'll remember you, and sales will naturally increase.
In fact, look at the most competitive supermarkets to understand the importance of promotions. Which supermarket isn't running activities every day? "Weekly themes, daily promotions" is probably the most vivid description of hypermarket and supermarket competition, and it's worth learning from for the baijiu industry.
- Clean up unqualified distributors without mercy.
In the off-season, quickly clean up unqualified distributors and resolutely replace those who need replacing. You have several months to deal with these unqualified distributors. Return goods, impose fines and warnings, revoke licenses, and refresh. If you delay this to the peak season, it not only affects sales but may also cause you to lose the market without knowing why.
In the off-season, sales are limited, and distributors can't ship much. If you cancel them now, they see little profit loss and usually just complain for a few days. In the peak season, sales are substantial, and canceling them is like cutting their flesh; they'll fight you tooth and nail. Therefore, canceling distributors in the off-season is also to avoid market chaos after conflict intensification and provides a buffer period for both parties.
- Launch new products quickly, never delay.
Launching new products in the off-season is to give them a good foundation for progress and prepare for some volume in the peak season. No product today has the luck to be a hit immediately. Most need time to become familiar with channels and consumers before gradually selling well. Launching new products in the off-season is for this preparation, leaving enough time to become familiar.
Also, launching new products in the off-season allows ample negotiation time to find excellent distributors. Since off-season sales are small, if a distributor is willing to take your product at this time, it shows they've thought it through, not acting blindly or impulsively, and cooperation will be better.
Of course, launching new products in the off-season also solves some sales and payment collection issues, helping companies through financial difficulties.
- Hold symposiums and peak-season mobilization meetings.
In the off-season, there are fewer tasks, and distributors and employees are not busy. Use this time to gather distributors for discussions and meetings, discuss market problems, and seek new solutions. At least the following issues can be effectively addressed and need to be done:
Solve market problems. Accumulated problems haven't been solved one by one. Use these symposiums to invite relevant functional department heads from headquarters to help distributors coordinate relationships with various departments and streamline market issues.
Facilitate cross-regional exchanges among distributors. Lead distributors to visit markets that are performing well to build confidence in other distributors.
Invite external experts to give lectures and train distributors, improving their theoretical market skills. This training also makes distributors more receptive to advanced market operation methods proposed by manufacturers, as experts' lectures gain more trust and understanding.
Use the period when the off-season is ending and the peak season is about to begin to hold mobilization meetings for distributors and employees, instilling the manufacturer's peak-season operation guidelines, presenting reward and punishment plans, helping distributors clarify peak-season operation ideas, and boosting morale.
Off-season meetings and training can become a routine, giving distributors something to look forward to, opportunities for improvement and progress, and enabling them to keep up with the manufacturer's pace in thought and action.
- Organize logistics and functional departments to go to the market.
In many manufacturers, logistics and frontline market personnel are often at odds. Frontline personnel are used to being free-spirited and don't understand the frustrations of office workers. Logistics personnel are used to working behind closed doors and don't understand the hardships of market personnel. If you use the off-season to bring logistics personnel to the frontline to hear the difficulties firsthand, they may process market expenses, distribute goods, and address distributor complaints faster and with more understanding. It also fosters better relationships, and the bonds built in some markets are more lasting and genuine.
After implementing this strategy, we indeed saw remarkable results. The mutual complaints disappeared. The complaints about slow financial reimbursement and ignored distributor complaints vanished. The finance department even proactively pressured itself, saying that if expenses weren't settled within two months due to finance reasons, they'd accept punishment. Frontline personnel also understood the difficulties of office work, stopped throwing tantrums, and no longer thought only they contributed to the company while logistics contributed nothing.
There is much market work in the off-season, and many tricks to use. We need to treat the off-season with a normal mindset, neither blindly arrogant by artificially inflating channel inventory nor self-deprecating by thinking there's nothing to do and putting our feet up. We should arrange off-season work reasonably according to our company's actual situation, focusing on fundamentals and winning hearts. That way, we'll achieve unexpected good results when the peak season arrives!
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