---
title: "Zhu Zhiming Column Serial: Consumer Sovereignty Series - The Essence of Product Sell-Through (Part 1)"
description: "This article is excerpted from Zhu Zhiming's new book \"Sell-Through Operations: Rhythm Control and New Tactics in the Community Era\". New Distribution has been authorized to serialize the book as a column by Zhu Zhiming. In this first section, the author explores the essence of product sell-through by asking why consumers choose a product, and discusses the external factors that influence consumer decisions."
author: "朱志明"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-05-16"
language: "en"
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# Zhu Zhiming Column Serial: Consumer Sovereignty Series - The Essence of Product Sell-Through (Part 1)

> This article is excerpted from Zhu Zhiming's new book "Sell-Through Operations: Rhythm Control and New Tactics in the Community Era". New Distribution has been authorized to serialize the book as a column by Zhu Zhiming. In this first section, the author explores the essence of product sell-through by asking why consumers choose a product, and discusses the external factors that influence consumer decisions.

**This article is excerpted from Zhu Zhiming's new book "Sell-Through Operations: Rhythm Control and New Tactics in the Community Era"**
**New Distribution has been authorized to serialize this book as a column by Zhu Zhiming**
**Section 1: The Essence of Product Sell-Through**
Whenever companies, distributors, or their sales personnel consult me about product sell-through issues, I ask them one question: Why do consumers consume your product?
Facing this question, let's put ourselves in the consumer's shoes and think about our own consumption psychology and behavior when consuming a product. Why do we choose a particular brand?
Some say, "This product has brand influence." Yes, the brand influence affects you and makes you choose it.
Some say, "Heavy advertising." Yes, you see ads everywhere; they influence you and make you choose it.
Some say, "Promotions." Yes, promotions tempt you and influence your choice.
Some say, "Friend's recommendation." Yes, because of others' recommendations, your choice is influenced.
Some say, "I drank it at a dinner with friends and it tasted good." Yes, because you've experienced it, you think of it when consuming.
Some say, "I saw my social circle drinking this wine, so I chose it."
Some say, "The product has a large display area, nice packaging, and seems cost-effective; I was attracted and wanted to try it."
The above are external factors that influence us when consuming a product. There may be many more, but I won't list them all here.
Think carefully: when we choose a product, isn't it because some external force influences us? The answer is definitely yes—there are always forces influencing us.
**No one chooses or consumes a product they have never consumed without a reason.**
**I. Consumer Psychology and Behavior Are Easily Influenced by What They See, Hear, and Feel**
Only by understanding consumer behavior and insight into consumer motives can we do marketing well.
Through extensive research, we find that consumers are easily influenced by external environmental stimuli in their purchase decisions. In other words, as marketers, if we can discover the external factors that influence consumer purchase decisions and strengthen consumer awareness, we can stimulate consumer purchase decisions.
We classify these external factors into three categories: visual influence, auditory influence, and taste influence.
**1. Visual Influence: The Scene Influence Method**
The scene influence method involves creating a product sales atmosphere at the terminal to stimulate consumers' visual nerves and arouse their desire to buy. For baijiu, we need to strengthen the display effect at catering and circulation terminals to stimulate the purchase desire of target consumers.
In specific strategies, we believe in optimizing resources, selecting points artistically, and striking comprehensively. Optimizing resources means conducting a detailed review and analysis of all terminals, avoiding blind full-scale visualization. Pay attention to the art of point selection: concentrate resources on terminals with strong influence and radiation for key atmosphere creation. For the terminals we select, we should systematically create a sales atmosphere with the idea of comprehensive strikes, so that from the moment consumers enter the terminal, they are deeply attracted and cannot resist.
For example, at hotel terminals, we emphasize that from the moment before entering the core hotel gate—including roadside billboards, storefront ads, entrance roll-up banners, lobby pillars, private room tablecloths, chairs, menus, beverage lists, bars, waitstaff, promotional hostesses, and even restrooms—the product's presence is everywhere. This is the power of sales atmosphere, the power of visual impact.
**2. Auditory Influence: The Word-of-Mouth Influence Method**
The word-of-mouth influence method means that when we consume something, we are easily influenced by recommendations from the boss (or staff), introductions from friends (or acquaintances), or even face-to-face promotions by manufacturers, which arouses consumers' desire to consume the product.
Visual influence is more about external sensory stimulation, while auditory influence is more about the charm of external language. The word-of-mouth influence method mainly involves four parts: First, who should influence to gain consumer trust? Second, what should be used to influence to make consumers interested? Third, how to influence them? Fourth, why do others influence others?
Who influences? It must be influential people, such as store owners, in-store waitstaff, opinion leaders, relatives and friends, professionals (like salespeople, promoters, people in the industry, etc.). What to use to influence? The product's differentiated selling points, trust credentials, and benefits to consumers. How to influence? Combine words with experience, letting consumers "see to believe, hear to doubt"—only when they hear, see, and feel it can the best effect be achieved.
Why do others influence others? Without benefits, there is no motive or motivation. The benefit may be spiritual, material, or a combination of both. For example, the wine is indeed good quality, it showcases one's personality, there are commissions or rebates, or the wine is related to me.
**3. Taste Influence: The Experience Influence Method**
Wine is drunk; this is an indisputable truth. Good taste is the real criterion. No matter how much you boast about the wine, if consumers feel uncomfortable during or after drinking, the wine has no market.
We often see activities like free tasting, tasting sessions, and distillery tours, which are all interactive and experiential marketing methods to increase consumer engagement. The goal is for consumers to drink the wine, feel it's good, and trust it.
**There are three ways for baijiu companies to increase consumer experience.**
> (1) Conduct free tasting activities at specific terminals, quickly and intensively, to create momentum.
>
> (2) Organize regular customers of terminals (catering, circulation), consumer groups in business communities and residential communities, and influential leaders matching the product positioning in society, to hold table-style tasting sessions or large tasting events, allowing full experience and feeling of the product.
>
> (3) Core target consumers visit the baijiu brewing process, including brewing techniques and environment, to generate consumption desire and brand loyalty.
If baijiu companies want to build sustainable core competitiveness, they should start with taste impulse factors, while also paying attention to visual impulse factors and discovering auditory impulse factors, organically combining the three to truly stimulate consumers' enthusiasm and desire, achieving real brand growth.
**II. Sell-Through Power Originates from Influence**
Influence is a force created by the product's static potential energy and dynamic potential energy.
In a market with severe product homogeneity, if a product is quietly submerged among many homogeneous products without any actions or forces to influence consumer consumption, will it have a chance to be consumed?
No influence, no consumption; no influence, no sell-through. Consumer choices are influenced. Therefore, to achieve product sell-through, the essential thing is to create product influence. Sell-through power originates from influence; without influence, there is no sell-through or sales power.
What exactly is influence?
Influence is determined by the static potential energy and dynamic potential energy created by the product in the market, as well as the scope of radiation of that potential energy.
Influence = (Static Potential Energy + Dynamic Potential Energy) / Promotion Scope.
**1. Static Potential Energy**
The promotional methods we often see in the market, such as product visualization, displays, and advertisements, are called static promotion. The influence generated by this method is defined as static potential energy.
**2. Dynamic Potential Energy**
The promotional methods we often see in the market, such as opinion leader development, roadshows, tasting, experience, sampling, lucky draws, buy-one-get-one, gold egg smashing, themed promotions, and online interactions, which directly interact with consumers, are called dynamic promotion. The influence generated by this method is defined as dynamic potential energy.
The fundamental difference between static and dynamic potential energy is that static potential energy is the influence formed by one-way notification and publicity, while dynamic potential energy is the influence created by consumer participation and interaction.
**3. Promotion Scope**
Whether static or dynamic promotion, with relatively fixed resources, the promotion scope, radius, or area is often more focused, the effect is more obvious, and the influence is greater. Therefore, the stronger the potential energy and the more focused the scope, the stronger the influence driving product sell-through. It may even become unstoppable, a general trend, with halo effects, word-of-mouth effects, and herd effects possibly appearing.
Sun Tzu said: "Thus, those skilled in war seek victory through the situation, not through individual effort." In the word "marketing," "marketing" comes before "selling." "Marketing" is about creating potential energy; with sufficient potential energy, selling becomes a matter of going with the flow.
**III. Three Key Elements Determining Product Sell-Through Potential: The Product Itself, Exposure Rate, and Activity Level**
Products or brands with true sales power are created in the market and drunk up by consumers. We see that the best-selling brands in many places are not the most famous ones, but those with high exposure and high activity. Of course, the consumption scenarios created by the product itself also have many commendable aspects.
**1. The Product Itself**
The strength of any energy is inseparable from the quality of the material itself. The sell-through potential of a product is also inseparable from the product's own attributes, such as quality, packaging, selling points, cost-effectiveness, and consumption scenarios. The higher the product's attributes, the greater the influence and the stronger the sell-through potential.
In fact, any product is a solution to a consumption scenario. How to create a consumption scenario solution through the product?
First, analyze the factors that truly work in the consumption scenario, then convert them into product language. For example, many people feel drowsy after taking cold medicine, affecting work during the day, and at night, coughing, sneezing, and runny nose affect sleep. So, Bai Jia He (Day and Night) cold medicine, based on consumption scenario needs, the daytime tablets contain acetaminophen, pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, and dextromethorphan hydrobromide, which have antipyretic, analgesic, vasoconstrictive, and cough-suppressing effects, quickly relieving main cold symptoms without drowsiness, allowing normal work and study. The nighttime tablets add diphenhydramine hydrochloride, which has stronger antihistamine effects, further reducing discomfort and helping patients rest better.
Second, turn product language into popular consumption scenarios, so that consumers think of the product involuntarily in certain scenarios. For example, Bai Jia He: "Take the white tablet during the day, no drowsiness; take the black tablet at night, sleep well."
Finally, through popular consumption scenarios, present the product's selling points, wow points, value, and brand to consumers through promotion, publicity, experience, and interaction, forming communication and interaction, generating traffic and consumption.
**2. Exposure Rate**
Exposure rate is the frequency and duration of attracting consumer attention. The higher the frequency and the longer the duration, the greater the impact on consumers.
There is a sales model called the AIDA model, where the first A (action) means attracting attention.
Only by first creating a consumption scenario to attract consumer attention can we have the opportunity to generate interest, desire, and sales. To attract consumer attention, either increase the exposure rate of the consumption scenario or make the scenario love at first sight.
Here, the consumption scenario is a vivid scene that consumers can feel, either a static display scene or a dynamic interactive scene.
When consumers see a product at a terminal with a stunning in-store and out-of-store atmosphere, and see others drinking it, they become interested in trying it—this is love at first sight in a consumption scenario. A consumer dining at a hotel often sees a product's atmosphere creation at many terminals but doesn't become interested. One day, the product happens to hold a gold egg smashing event at the terminal; the consumer participates, experiences the product, finds the taste, quality, and price suitable, and changes their future consumption choice.
Exposure rate is a gradual influence; love at first sight is an irresistible influence. In the era of homogeneity, for product sell-through, there are more gradual influences than love at first sight.
**3. Activity Level**
The higher the product's activity, the stronger the sell-through awareness formed in consumers' minds. Consumers are easily influenced by highly active products in the market. Simply put, let consumers see it often, hear it often, taste it, and constantly share and spread it.
How to make consumers see, hear, and experience the product? Different companies have different resources and adopt different methods; different product types or price bands also have different core influence methods. But we must ensure that the product stands out in consumption places, that people recommend it, that consumers participate in experiencing it, that consumers spread it, and that consumers feel it is popular or popular in their social circles.
**Zhu Zhiming Column:**
Special column author for New Distribution;
China's most practical marketing expert in the consulting industry;
Founder of Zhizhuo Marketing Consulting and Planning Company;
Chairman of Zhenzhizhuojian Marketing Planning Company;
Consultant and mentor for dozens of enterprises;
One of China's top 10 practical marketing training teachers;
**Published liquor monographs:**
"Sell-Through Operations", "Ten Steps to Successfully Operate Baijiu Regional Markets", "Regional Baijiu Enterprise Marketing Winning Rules", "Regional Baijiu Marketing 36 Tactics", "Kingly Marketing", etc.;
**WeChat:** zhuzhiming0551
Zhu Zhiming Column
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