The following is the speech delivered by Mr. Lu Anjun, General Manager of the National Operations Center of Yanghe Xiaoqu, at the 5th FMCG + Internet Conference hosted by New Distribution, organized and published for readers.
Good morning, everyone. The sugar and wine fair over the past two days has been in full swing. I have also received many new customers from all over the country. After these new customers arrived, many people asked me a question: What is your company's support policy? I said, 'Are you very concerned about this issue?' He said, 'Yes, very concerned.' I said, 'If I give you the policy, can you do well?' Of course, having a policy would be better.
In fact, you will find that today, when many of our distributors come to the sugar and wine fair, they all make a mistake. What mistake? We only see the products, only see the support from the manufacturers behind the products, but we overlook one point: after you take these products back, how do you turn them into money? Last year, I wrote an article titled 'What Do Distributors Really Lack?' Do we lack products? At the sugar and wine fair, you will see too many products, but you will find that many distributors take them back and few succeed. So yesterday, one of our distributors joked with me, saying that dealing with manufacturers today is too difficult.
I come to the sugar and wine fair every year. I have come four times in a row. I chose four products, and all four products are still at home, not selling. He said, 'I get fooled every year, and each time it's different.' Do you feel the same? Absolutely. So last year, I joined Yanghe Xiaoqu. I have been in the liquor industry for a full 25 years, from Yangshao Wine to Laocunzhang. I worked for these two products and two companies for a total of 21 years. In April last year, I left Laocunzhang. At that time, I had a thought: I said, 'I can't do liquor anymore.' Why not? It's too difficult; I can't find a way. Now, many of our distributors are doing one thing at terminal stores: competing on expenses, competing on shelf space, buying stores, collecting bottle caps, and spoiling store owners' appetites more and more, making their tempers worse and worse. Especially in many of our circulation stores, some owners proudly told me, 'Look, I don't need to sell anything here. I just put the products on the shelf for a year, and I earn tens of thousands.' Everyone, you will find that today, after you put the products on the shelf, can they still sell? Still no.
So in October last year, one of my companies took on the Yanghe Xiaoqu brand. After taking it on, we found a problem: like other products, we were competing on expenses at the terminal. We put all the manufacturer's support costs into the terminal, but it didn't sell. Later, I went to Teacher Liu and said, 'Can you think of a way? Now we've spent all the money, and if we spend more, we'll have to pay out of our own pockets.' He said, 'Paying out of pocket is okay.' Later, we tried increasing promotional efforts, but it still didn't sell. At that time, Teacher Liu and we were serving a beverage company called Xiaoshile, which was using new marketing. We considered how to use new marketing methods for liquor. After three months of experimentation, we came up with a new marketing model for bottled liquor: the 1239 model.
What kind of model is this?
The '1' refers to taking sell-through as the core. All products placed at the terminal, if they cannot sell through, will die quickly.
The '2' refers to online and offline. Today, many distributors only know how to do offline; few know how to do online, especially those in traditional business. Our new marketing connects these two channels: online and offline.
The '3' refers to maximum sales volume, most fans, and best repurchase.
The '9' is nine actions. Only when these nine actions are in place can we achieve these three goals.
The first issue is 'terminal is king.' In the past, we said terminal is king. Whoever did well at the terminal was indeed impressive. We spent all our money on the terminal and gave it to the terminal. But today, you will find the market is changing. Now, consumer sovereignty is returning; consumers have the final say. For example, in the past, after we delivered to the terminal and gave the fees, the store owner wanted to promote, but consumers didn't drink. What to do?
We encountered this problem again. Later, we started working on consumers. Let me give you an example: after our new product launched, we did one thing. For instance, 'Drink today, get a refund tomorrow.' Would you come to drink? Everyone, would you come? Definitely. So, if you want to come and drink my wine for free, what do you do? You have to add my WeChat. As long as you add my WeChat, within the vicinity of this restaurant, or within 2.5 or 1.5 kilometers, these consumers are basically fixed. At this time, we created a group. We interacted with consumers in the group and gave them some benefits. When consumers go to that terminal store to consume again, you will find that we have changed from passive to active sales. So at this time, the store owner can't be arrogant with you. We used this method in markets like Lankao, Henan, for three months. In one market, our fan base reached 26,000. In the past, when we delivered to restaurants, what did the restaurant owners say? 'Give me a policy' or 'Sell on credit.' Especially today, many new distributors of liquor only have one trick: selling on credit. You will find that the more you sell on credit, the faster you die. We use the new marketing model to distribute goods, and our distribution is almost precise. So in the process of distribution, we first consider sell-through. This is our shift from 'terminal is king' to 'fans are king.'
The second point is 'decentralized communication.' I have been in traditional business for over 20 years. In the past, to advertise and spread a brand, we invested heavily in CCTV, newspapers, and provincial TV stations. But you will find that today, how many people still watch TV or read newspapers? Fewer and fewer. It is said that the TV turn-on rate is less than 30%. At this time, is it still useful to invest in advertising? The center is gone. What follows is self-media or mobile terminals. Today, everyone has a mobile phone. With this phone, you can spread your product anytime, anywhere, and express your information. Just now I talked about 'fans are king.' Today, when many of us go to a restaurant to eat, you find that when the dishes are served, we don't immediately pick up chopsticks to eat; we take photos and post them on Moments. When you take a photo and post it, if our wine is on the table, you spread it. Who pays for the advertising? Did we pay? No. Consumers advertise for us. So in just a few months, our spread speed has been very fast. How did we do it? Let me give you a few examples. For instance, in the traditional way, when a salesperson visits a terminal store, what do they do? They ask, 'Do you have any stock? How are sales? Do you need to reorder?' We changed it. What did we change it to? The first step for a salesperson visiting a customer is to pick up the store owner's phone, have the store owner take a photo of our product, and then post it on their Moments. Everyone, does he post it? He doesn't. At first, we did many experiments; he didn't post. Later, what did we do? We designed a restaurant promotion plan specifically for restaurants. For example, if you sell roast duck, originally 168 yuan, I let you sell it for 68 yuan, limited to 5 tables per day. Isn't our product photo included? He takes a photo and posts it. He will definitely post it. He advertises for you for free again. We have an office with 10 salespeople. One salesperson visits one customer. Suppose one customer has three store owners. The store owners plus a waiter, these three people simultaneously take photos and post them on WeChat groups and Moments. Do you know what this means? One person influences a thousand people. One salesperson visits one customer, influencing at least a thousand people. Ten salespeople influence 10,000 people. In a month, that's one million people, with repeated and overlapping coverage. In the past, 'good wine needs no bush.' But you find that 'good wine also fears deep alleys.' So now we must use new media to spread quickly.
The third is management. Management is the most headache-inducing problem for distributors today. Yesterday, when I was chatting with a client, he raised a question. He said, 'Teacher Lu, let me ask you a question. My 10 salespeople are all post-90s. They are really hard to manage. Can you tell me how to control them?' I asked him a question: 'How did you recruit people?' He told me how he recruited. Everyone, I see that when we distributors recruit, do you have this feeling? When we get a brand, how do we recruit? We ask about their past experience: 'What have you sold?' 'I sold Mengniu.' 'I sold Yili.' Many people say, 'Great, come on board.'
Comrades, let me ask you a question: Regardless of a person's past or present, do you know what he will do right now? No. So how do I interview people? When someone comes, I almost never ask about his past. The past only represents the past. Even if you did well in the past, it's useless to me. What can you do now? As long as he has done sales in a market for two years, everyone, can he sell anything? For example, when he comes to my office for an interview, I casually pick up a remote control from my desk and say, 'Young man, please sell this remote control to me.' I want to use his present. If in the past two years you say your performance was brilliant, but you can't even do this, you can't even organize two minutes of speech, do I dare to hand over my product to you? So today, many distributors' failures start from this moment. Look at how we distributors recruit: they get a brand, first ask the manufacturer for a policy. The manufacturer says, 'Okay, I'll give you 50% policy.' He takes the policy and goes home. Can he do it? He can't. As a result, he recruits a few salespeople who, like him, don't know how to do it. And he still hopes that his salespeople are better than him. Everyone, do we have this experience? Our salesperson goes out, comes back after a day, and hasn't sold a single bottle. What does he say to you? 'Boss, our product price is too high, promotions are too few, brand awareness is insufficient.' How many of your salespeople come back and say, 'Boss, I'm really stupid, I can't do it'? No one says that. At this time, our distributors only have one trick: take the sharp knife from the salesperson, pull down their pants, cut a piece of meat from their butt, and say, 'Go.' After one day, two days, half a month, a month, you will find that a good person becomes skinny. Then the salesperson says, 'Boss, you're too stingy. If you can't provide a policy, how can I work for you?' That's how we die. You find that management is too difficult today. So in the past year, when I discovered these problems, I communicated with Teacher Liu. Teacher Liu said one trick: 'You need to go online. Move offline management online.' How to do it online? I asked my employees to pull their relatives, friends, and all their aunts and uncles into a group. We call it the 'Employee Family Group.' With 100 people per year, if you have 10 employees, you build a group of 1,000 people. Some people ask, 'What's the use of building this group?' I tell you, this group is extremely powerful. After building this group, I can almost let go and not manage.
After this group is established, our salespeople, aren't they and their parents on the same platform? This morning, if I want to praise salesperson A, 'Come on stage.' The moment he walks up, I take a photo and immediately post it to our Employee Family Group. Then I attach a message: 'This is the outstanding employee of the month.' Will his relatives and friends see it? Definitely. If I want to criticize someone, today you find that post-90s are like a tiger's butt that can't be touched. Don't even think about fining them. If you say two harsh words, they slam the table and leave. Everyone, I think my management is very good. Every year, I hold meetings for our employees and their parents, with two to three thousand people. At the meetings, I talk about gratitude, making them cry. After crying, is it still useful today? Later, they cry again, but this time they wipe their tears and smile. It's useless. So with this thing, if I want to criticize an employee, I don't criticize you. Everyone, I let you stand on stage. At this moment, I send a photo of you: 'This is our progress model.' Did I criticize you? No. Everyone, do we want our employees to work overtime? Do you want them to work until 12 at night? Do you want to? Yes. I want to hear if your applause is enthusiastic.
See how I do it. If I want my employees to work until 12, I find one of my employees and say, 'Tonight, you come with me. We'll work at this restaurant. While you work, I'll take photos and post them on Moments.' Where do I post? I post to the WeChat group. This guy is still working at 12 at night. What will other employees think when they see it? What will his parents think? On the first day, is there any feeling? No.
Come, the next day, we continue. We bring another employee. 'Come, come with me. I'll take photos and videos of you and post them on Moments. You'll serve dishes, wash dishes, sweep the floor.' I continue posting. On the third day, changes slowly begin. On the second day, someone wants to learn from him. He goes home around 10. After a week, about 80% of us voluntarily work overtime. Everyone, if you don't use this method, and you say, 'Work overtime tonight, I'll give each of you 100 yuan,' will he do it? He says, 'I won't. I don't want to earn your 100 yuan.'
So there was this incident. One morning, I was having a meeting at the company. A salesperson came in. From a distance, I saw his face was bloody. It scared me. I said, 'What happened? Did you fall or fight?' He said, 'No.' He walked to the office. I pulled him over and said, 'Come here, come here. Tell me why. What happened?' He told me, 'I fought with my wife.' I asked, 'Why did you fight with your wife?' He said, 'It's nothing else.' I said, 'Tell me. What is it?' He didn't say. I said, 'Tell me. I'll support you.' He said, 'It's all because of those ghosts. They work overtime every day.' I said, 'Aren't you also working overtime?' He said, 'I went home a bit early.' I asked, 'What time did you go home?' He said, 'At nine.' Everyone, isn't it already good for a salesperson to work until nine? But those few people work until eleven every night. They go home when the restaurant closes. As a result, his wife was in the group every day, seeing that only her husband came home earliest. That morning, his wife couldn't take it anymore. 'I won't cook for you anymore.' He got up and went to work, found no breakfast, and asked, 'Why didn't you cook?' She said, 'You have the nerve to eat? Look at how other men work. Why do you come back so early?' Then they argued. His wife said, 'I can't even bear to buy clothes all year. I married you, and I'm blind. You're useless.' The more she talked, the more excited she got, and they started fighting. You know what a woman's most powerful weapon is in a fight? His face got scratched. After he told me this, I said, 'What should we do? I'll take you to find your wife. She's wrong.' He said, 'Don't go. If you go, I'll get beaten again.' What to do next? What else? Work overtime.
So from October last year until the Spring Festival, almost all my employees went home at 10:30 to 11 at night. During the entire overtime period, everyone was self-motivated. The company didn't give anyone bonuses or overtime pay. It's just that in such an environment, can these employees not work? They can't not work. Let me give another example. Everyone, don't we all set annual, monthly, and quarterly assessment rewards for our teams? This year, when we announce to the team, 'Okay, this month, if we complete the task, each person gets 500 yuan,' is it useful? Many salespeople say, 'Let me see the policy. If I can complete it, I'll do it. If not, I won't.' At this time, see how I do it. After I formulate this policy, I post it to my Employee Family Group: 'After completing this month's task, reward employees' parents with a trip to Beijing.'
Let me ask you: If you were my employee, when you go home, your parents ask you, 'Child, I saw the message from your boss in the group. Is it reliable that we're going to Beijing?' What does he do next? He has to work hard. We had two employees who didn't complete the task by the end of the month and said to me, 'President Lu, I'm sorry. I really tried my best this month, but I didn't complete the task. Is it okay if his parents go on the trip, and I pay for it myself?' Yes, he can pay for his parents' trip himself.
Everyone, suppose I issue another policy: 'The kids are about to have a holiday. Do you want the children to go to a summer camp for a trip?' Another policy comes. I post it to the group. You go home, and your child asks you, 'Dad, can I go to the summer camp?' What do you say? 'Go or not? Even if I die of exhaustion, I have to go. Even if I pay myself, I have to go.' So through this method, after moving our previous implicit management online, you will find that today, many of our management tasks have become very easy.
Another example: Everyone, don't we all lack people today? All distributors lack salespeople. Do you lack them? If you lack people, raise your hand. I tell you, there's a way to not lack people, to find 100 or 500 people. Today, our Employee Family Group has 1,000 people. Aren't these all our relatives? Will they speak ill of the brand? No, they'll only speak well. At this time, we have a requirement for employees: each of you must find your 10 closest friends to help you sell, as your sales assistants. Can you do it? Definitely. If you have 10 salespeople, isn't there an invisible sales force of 100 people? Today, many distributors recruit people and say salespeople are poor. With 100 people helping him, how poor can he be? I tell you, everyone, today 30% of my market sales are completed by the family members of employees in the Employee Family Group. Do you know how I do it? Let me give you an example. One of our salespeople has an uncle who helped sell 100 cases of wine yesterday. With a commission of 2 yuan per case, that's 200 yuan. Who should this 200 yuan commission go to? Should we give it to the salesperson or his uncle? How to give it? If this situation occurs, suppose you are the salesperson, who do you give the 200 yuan to? Do you want to know how I drove his uncle crazy?
I made the salesperson not take a single cent of the 200 yuan. How? Every morning, he sends a 5-yuan red envelope to his uncle with a message: 'Thank you, Uncle, for your strong support of my work. Having an uncle like you is the honor of my life.' Everyone, the 5-yuan red envelope is sent. On the first day, I do this. On the second day, I do it again: 'Having an uncle like you, I feel very proud and very happy. You see, after I graduated from university, you were the first to support me. I will never forget you in this life.' Another 5-yuan red envelope goes out. On the third, fourth, fifth, sixth days... How many times does the 200-yuan red envelope get sent? 40 times. On the 41st day, his uncle has gotten used to receiving red envelopes. He opens his phone and thinks, 'Why did this kid forget this?' On the 41st day, the salesperson sends his uncle a message: 'Uncle, this month I'm still short of 10 cases to become the company's sales champion. Can you help me?' Does such sales require you to personally run around? Today, many of our distributors are doing rural markets. Most of our relatives and family members are in rural areas. Who knows first when a child gets married, a daughter gets married, or there's a red or white event? They know first. At this time, we give them benefits. It's just a matter of a word from them, and you deliver the goods. Are these 100 salespeople in place? Today, do you still lack people? Today, you don't lack people; you only lack ideas.
Furthermore, for example, in this group, you will find many people raise groups by sending red envelopes. When I talk about group management, many people say, 'Isn't it just sending red envelopes?' You know, in this group, I not only don't send red envelopes, but I also make money in the group. For example, like the product Teacher Ding Ding just mentioned, can we do it in the group? For instance, this product, originally 800 yuan, with a flash sale price of 100 yuan, is that okay? Are there people who like to take advantage of such bargains? Does 100 yuan lose money? Today, in our group, we use many high-value-added products. We use this method to maintain the group. We haven't spent a single cent. Just the day before yesterday, a client told me this: 'I spend 5,000 yuan a month on red envelopes.' I said, 'You're too rich.' But I can raise the group without spending money.
Third, this is the '9' in the 1239 new marketing model. There are several main actions. The first is 'precision distribution.' What is precision distribution? Traditional marketing distribution is carpet-style distribution: the more you distribute, the better; the larger the coverage, the better. But when we did Yanghe Xiaoqu, I found a problem: Yanghe Xiaoqu seems like a bottled liquor, but our price is not low. Among bottled liquors, we sell at 35 yuan a bottle. For ordinary people who drink bottled liquor today, what is 35? They are drinking Moutai. Because the mainstream price is now 15 to 20, we suddenly raised the price so high that many consumers find it hard to accept. So similarly, the stores that can sell these products are limited. So at the beginning, we did precision distribution. Precision has several key points. The first is 'concept recognition.' In the past, when we distributed to terminal stores, we competed on policy: 'If you buy 5 cases, get 1 free.' The owner cared about the policy. What do we do with the policy? Our concept is this: I'll roughly reveal it. For example, when I go to a restaurant, I want to show the owner his business. 'How about we cooperate? First, let's improve your business, increase your average customer spend, make your customers come back, retain customers. When your business improves, my products will naturally sell.' Do you recognize this concept? If you recognize my concept, then we talk about cooperation.
In the past, when our salespeople visited terminal customers, many used policies. In the past six months, we have changed all that. We no longer sell policies; we sell pain points. Can you help terminal store owners dig out their pain points and solve them? We are all doing terminal work. I want to ask everyone a question: What are the pain points of our restaurant terminal stores? What are the owners' pain points? First, their average customer spend is too low. Second, there are no repeat customers. Third, when customers come, they can't retain them. Fourth, how many store owners calculate their accounts? Most store owners have a structure of one owner, one owner's wife, and one owner's mother. Just these three people. Who calculates the accounts? No one. So we firmly grasp these pain points. Another example: Can he promote specialty dishes? He can't. We turn these four pain points into scripts and have salespeople practice them daily. When I go to a place, I go straight to your pain point. I call it 'rubbing salt in the wound.' You're already in pain; I make you more painful. You can only create pain in consumers to dig out demand. Let me tell you a personal experience.
One year, I caught a cold and went to the hospital. At the hospital, the doctor gave me a lab test slip and said, 'Go get your blood drawn.' I naturally took the slip and went. After drawing blood, the doctor looked at my results and said, 'Can you take an X-ray to see?' The X-ray cost dozens of yuan. I said, 'Okay.' Then I took an X-ray. Just like that, all the way down, finally I had an MRI. The doctor told me, 'Nothing serious, just a cold.' In the end, 5,000 yuan was gone. Everyone, why? He was creating pain points for you. So today, when we talk about the pain points of terminal store owners, they are our opportunities.
The fifth is 'precision traffic diversion, forming repurchase.' Earlier, we talked about how, after precision distribution, we use ultra-low prices to let consumers take advantage. After consumers join the group, we can attract them to our platform and then divert traffic to restaurants. Let me give a few examples. For instance, use our products and supermarkets for traffic diversion. If you spend 200 yuan in a supermarket, you can take my, say, wine ticket to a restaurant to consume, and then you can enjoy the policy discount I give you. Similarly, a restaurant can take my wine ticket to a circulation store to consume, and the circulation store can also give you a corresponding discount. Through such traffic diversion, consumers are led to return and consume, thereby locking in consumption.
The last one is 'omni-channel fan chain communication.' We fully utilize our salespeople to create pain points for restaurant owners, using their phones for massive daily dissemination. I roughly calculated that we have about 5 or 6 markets. In the past two or three months, we've had nearly three to four million repeated, high-density, overlapping coverage. We have many similar groups.
Today, due to time constraints, the 1239 new marketing model has a lot of content. Time is limited today, so it's hard to explain clearly. If you are interested in Yanghe Xiaoqu or the 1239 new marketing model, you are welcome to chat with us privately. Thank you.