1 Why is the marketing department the air force of an enterprise? In modern warfare, the air force has become the protagonist on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the vast majority of domestic enterprises are still stuck in the mindset of relying on the army to conquer the world. The book that has had the greatest impact on my career is "In Search of Excellence," translated and published 30 years ago. It changed my destiny. Because it gave me a very preliminary understanding of the definitions of Sales and Marketing, and also sparked a strong interest in marketing work. So when I took the recruitment exam for China Hewlett-Packard in September 1985, the position I applied for was Market Development Engineer. Although China Hewlett-Packard was still a small company with only about a hundred people at that time, it had set up a marketing department of about 10 people, which was roughly one-fourth of the number of people in the sales department at that time. Why did multinational companies place the marketing department in such an important position 30 years ago, and were willing to invest in marketing when resources were so tight? Why did they establish such a non-combat unit when the number of personnel was limited and the business volume was small? Because they believed: Sooner or later, China would move toward a market economy, and in a market economy environment, the most important link is to understand market demand, grasp market changes, and thus establish a market-oriented organization. The results 20 years later proved how wise multinational companies like China Hewlett-Packard were. China Hewlett-Packard's performance grew from tens of millions of RMB at the beginning to tens of billions of RMB today. The decline of the army can be said that modern warfare is no longer dominated by the army on the battlefield. The air force, special forces, equipment and logistics support units, and staff officers have become the protagonists of modern warfare and the key elements determining victory or defeat. Unfortunately, to this day, the vast majority of domestic enterprises are still stuck in the mindset of relying on the army to conquer the world and cannot extricate themselves. 2 90% of enterprises confuse the relationship between sales and marketing Having said that, it is necessary to introduce the basic concepts of Sales and Marketing, as well as the relationship between them. Because in the Chinese market, the vast majority of enterprise managers do not understand the difference between sales and marketing, thinking that sales is marketing. So what do salespeople do? Simply put, they sell the products that the company produces (or will produce) to customers at reasonable prices. Our definition of an excellent salesperson is: One who can sell a product that seems inferior to competitors' products to customers at a higher price than competitors, and the customer is grateful. So, even according to this simple definition, the sales level of domestic enterprises is very low. Most enterprises' salespeople still rely on relationships, interests, and low prices to compete. What do marketing personnel do?
Simply put, they select target markets, clarify the concept of serving specific people, and understand consumer needs and competitor conditions (the function of special forces);
Formulate the enterprise's medium-term (3-5 year) marketing strategic plan, implementation plan, and monitoring system (the function of the staff department);
Design complete products with obvious differentiated characteristics based on market demand and competitive landscape, and equip the combat troops in a timely manner (the function of equipment and logistics support units);
In the selected target market, stimulate the demand of target customers on a large scale in a relatively cost-saving and effort-saving way (the function of the air force). To more clearly analyze the relationship between sales and marketing, we might as well start from several vivid concepts. Arm and thigh, which is more important? This question does not need to be answered; everyone knows the answer: Because the arm and thigh are indispensable. Different parts have different functions and roles. A person lacking any part is disabled, so there is no question of which is more important. In an enterprise, the marketing department and the sales department also play different roles and are responsible for different work. We can also compare the marketing department to scouts, and the sales department to combat troops. Without scouts, the combat department would be like a blind person fighting randomly, without order, without rhythm, and even without clear goals. Although salespeople work very hard, they can only rely on luck, like a blind cat catching a dead mouse. Similarly, if there are only scouts but no combat troops, the task cannot be completed either, because although we know what to do next, no one does it, so it is just armchair strategy. Today and tomorrow, which is more important? If an enterprise only cares about today, going wherever it goes, living an unstable life with no guarantee of the next meal, the days of salespeople will become increasingly difficult, always in a state of risk. On the other hand, if the enterprise only looks at tomorrow, it may starve today, and can only satisfy hunger by looking at beautiful pictures. Such enterprises often aim too high, live in illusion, motivate themselves with fantasies, but never achieve their goals. So, in an enterprise, the task of the sales department is to focus on today, so that the enterprise has a healthy cash flow; The task of the marketing department is to focus on tomorrow, that is, to find future opportunities, identify future opportunities, stimulate future market demand, make target customers interested in the enterprise's complete product, continuously generate a stream of potential customers, and deliver prospective customers to the sales department. 3 For SMEs, strategy and execution, which is more important? A book called "Execution" awakened many entrepreneurs and managers overnight, as if everyone had found the root of the problem and a panacea for solving enterprise problems. But without a clear corporate strategy, what do people execute? This is a very simple question. Many entrepreneurs, while not admitting that their enterprises lack strategy, treat ideas as strategy, goals as strategy, and ideals as strategy. So whenever the enterprise encounters a problem, they attribute it to poor execution. As I have repeatedly emphasized before, the challenge facing most Chinese enterprises is the lack of strategy, and this lack of strategy brings them confusion about tomorrow. Therefore, it is too early to talk about execution today, because Chinese enterprises are at a different stage from multinational companies, and we must not blindly follow trends. It can be said that if an enterprise does not have a marketing department, strategy can only come from the boss's inspiration, not objective, scientific analysis. Under normal circumstances, the marketing department is responsible for the design of the enterprise's marketing strategy for the next 3-5 years (and the sales director must participate in the strategy design); The sales department is responsible for the specific implementation of the next year. In this case, the role of the marketing department is similar to the staff department in the military, which is the strategy design department; The sales department is the execution department. So strategy and execution are indispensable. 4 For SMEs, sales and marketing, which is more important? Generally speaking, in a market with insufficient competition (not necessarily not fierce), because product differentiation is very small (or even nonexistent), everyone focuses on capturing existing opportunities. As long as they can produce similar products, they can make money. Especially for enterprises with some reputation, they can use OEM and ODM methods to quickly enter a new market. Because they adopt a follow-the-leader strategy, there is no need for scientific market research, consumer behavior analysis, or strategic design. They just need to follow others. This indeed has its value in a market environment where counterfeit and shoddy products are still rampant, because consumers do not know who to trust, and as long as a few (relatively) trustworthy brands appear, they will prioritize these enterprises' products. During this period, the sales department is the most important department in the enterprise, and the marketing department indeed has no significant use. At this time, the most typical competitive elements in the market are price wars and advertising wars, which the sales department can fully handle. This is what we call the typical promotion model stage. But as competition intensifies, it becomes difficult to survive by relying on undifferentiated products. Once a market enters a state of perfect competition, counterfeit and shoddy products will gradually withdraw from the market. Because there are too many large enterprises left, they can only reshuffle through survival of the fittest, thus entering the final state of monopolistic competition. At this stage, it is impossible for enterprises to win by relying on salespeople fighting alone, especially to achieve comprehensive and decisive success. At this time, the value of the marketing department begins to manifest, because the enterprise needs dedicated people to lay out, plan, design, and play according to the rules of the game, eliminating enterprises that do not follow the rules. At this stage, the core work of marketing is the innovation of complete products and the design of marketing strategy. Of course, innovation is based on a deep understanding of the needs of target customers. Therefore, the more sufficient the competition, the more important the function of the marketing department. Whether to do sales first or marketing first depends on the competitive situation of the industry and the position of each enterprise in the target market. Army and air force, which is more important? As everyone knows, in modern warfare, the air force usually leads the attack. Through its power and lethality, it destroys the enemy's defense facilities on a large scale, breaks the enemy's will to resist, and makes the enemy lose combat effectiveness. In addition, the air force can also provide air support to the army and transport the necessary supplies for war to the combat troops. But if there is only the air force without combat troops, the task cannot be completed either. To resolve the battle, the army must engage in close combat and clean up the battlefield. So the sales department is the army combat troops, responsible for dealing with customers and competing with competitors for customers. The marketing department is the air force (also the logistics support unit), which conducts large-scale market publicity and promotion through three-dimensional attacks, stimulating the needs of target consumers, making them understand and like our complete product, and develop a preference for our brand. And sending out salespeople before the marketing department has done its job well is often a waste of money and effort, achieving half the result with twice the effort. Therefore, only when these two departments complement each other can they most effectively achieve the overall goals of the enterprise. So they are equally important, not primary or secondary, but complementary and indispensable. What are the front-end and back-end of the marketing department? Stage and underground, which is more important? In fact, the marketing department also has front-end and back-end. The so-called front-end is the marketing department that works with the sales department (in English, Field Marketing). The front-end marketing department is responsible for pushing the finalized products to the market and providing corresponding support services to the sales department. Such as: channel training, sales tool development, sales personnel training, various promotional activities, advertising, direct mail, and website construction, etc. Therefore, it belongs to the category of stage performance, hoping to make more consumers interested in our products. The back-end is the marketing department that works with the R&D department (in English, Factory Marketing). Responsible for market research, competitive analysis, new product definition, new product launch, product lifecycle management, etc. It belongs to the category of underground work and is the decision-making department that determines the company's product strategy, product positioning, and profit targets. Its status is much higher than front-end marketing personnel and sales personnel, and it belongs to the elite of the company. However, because the vast majority of multinational companies' branches (or subsidiaries) in China are agencies similar to sales offices, you basically cannot see marketing personnel doing back-end work. Therefore, domestic enterprises have lost the model that can be learned, referenced, or even copied, thinking that the marketing of multinational companies is the stage performance part we can see. In my view, marketing personnel doing underground work are the real marketing personnel and the main force. Those engaged in stage performance marketing are more like sales support personnel, the logistics force. As long as this definition is clear, everyone knows what is most important. 5 For SMEs, efficiency and stability, which is more important? For small enterprises, during the survival period, efficiency must be prioritized. At this time, there is no time to consider the establishment of supervision and restraint mechanisms, because the enterprise scale is not too large, so entrepreneurs or managers can still control the situation. But as the enterprise scale expands and personnel increase, the enterprise will face the balance between operation and management. It can be said that enterprises in a stage of rapid development rarely have problems in operation, but rather in management. Because after the enterprise develops to a certain extent, if management lags behind and cannot keep up with the development needs of the enterprise, especially if the supervision and restraint mechanisms are not sound, problems are likely to occur. So when entering the development period from the survival period, entrepreneurs and managers need to appropriately adjust their focus, from prioritizing efficiency to balancing efficiency and stability. As everyone knows, without restraint, corruption will inevitably occur. When an enterprise's turnover exceeds 100 million, this problem will gradually be exposed. If entrepreneurs or managers do not pay enough attention ideologically, problems are only a matter of time. Because avoiding corruption cannot rely on consciousness, but must rely on systems, that is, supervision and restraint mechanisms. Take the well-known problems of sales corruption, feudal separatism, one person dominating everything, and customers becoming the private property of salespeople. It is not difficult to find the root of the problems. In addition, who has the final say on the next year's sales quota? It is also a headache. It can be said that it is difficult for enterprises without an independent marketing department to solve the above problems. Because the sales department is a point, very discrete. The marketing department is a line. Only by connecting all the points with several lines can it become a surface and form a stable pattern. Of course, this also involves the interaction and mutual restraint between the marketing department and the sales department. In short, the sales department and the marketing department are two complementary departments in an enterprise, and they are two indispensable functions. For growing SMEs, they must establish a truly meaningful marketing department as soon as possible, allocate enterprise resources reasonably, and no longer use the excuse of no people or no money to ignore the marketing function that is crucial to the long-term development of the enterprise. Gao Jianhua: Accelerated Growth Path Planner for SMEs Former Assistant President of China Hewlett-Packard, Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) Former China Market Director of Apple Computer Current Chief Consultant of Beijing Yangweizhongyong Management Consulting Co., Ltd. Bestsellers: "Win at the Top-Level Design" "Leave HP with a Smile" "Win Without Fighting" "Profit Models in the 2.0 Era" "Look at the Post-80s with Appreciation" Author Enterprises coached - Strategic Planning: Yili Dairy, Vanke Real Estate, China UnionPay, Ocean King Lighting, NVC Lighting, Walvax Biotechnology, Zhejiang Jiuhao Group, Jinnongxin Shares... Source: Gao Jianhua's Win at the Top-Level Design -END-