Chapter 19 1. Let everyone in the marketing chain make money

What is the key to completing the "last mile" of marketing?Some say it's service, some say it's quality, some say it's brand, but a brand new answer can be read from Wahaha's actual combat: the orderly distribution of benefits. Zong Qinghou is a low-key person who is not good at talking, but he may be the best entrepreneur in China who is good at "networking". In today's Chinese business world, all kinds of fashionable marketing theories are flying all over the sky. However, in Zong Qinghou's view, all the marketing theories in the world are inseparable: they are nothing more than products, consumers and customer needs. In terms of association, some novel and ingenious service concepts are put forward. In actual combat, these marketing theories characterized by concept innovation make the front-line marketers "listen but do nothing" because they cannot be directly converted into operable operation modes.

In Wahaha, a set of "marketing cybernetics" with practical effects has been formed after many years.Zong Qinghou believes that business competition for the world, in the final analysis, is a process of control and anti-control.As the strategic decision maker of an enterprise, its market capabilities are fully reflected in "what to control" and "how to control". control what?Said: spread, area, variety and rhythm. Among them, the price difference is the "top priority" and the "hub" of Zong's cybernetics, because it is related to the profit distribution of every link in the marketing chain.

The so-called spread and price are two very different concepts.The price difference refers to the distribution of benefits among all the wholesale and retail channels that products pass through from manufacturers to consumers (for beverages, home appliances and other products, there are generally three to four links).If high-priced products do not have attractive price spreads, they will still not be able to arouse the enthusiasm of dealers, while low-priced products can still bring profits to dealers with large quantities if the price spreads are properly controlled.Orderly distribution of profit space at all levels of distribution is not only the responsibility of the manufacturer, but also the key to controlling the market.

When a manufacturer launches any promotional activity or policy, the first thing that should be considered is to design a price difference system with clear levels and reasonable distribution.Nowadays, many companies like to "ultra-low altitude" in marketing, bombing the market with low prices, thinking that as long as my price is lower than other companies, it must sell better than others, but it may not be so.Because the low price that does not consider the price difference will undoubtedly make the dealer unprofitable. If he does not yell at you hard or put your products on the counter, the "last mile" of the transaction will still not be reached.

Generally speaking, when a new product enters a mature market, the low-price strategy will achieve unexpected results because it destroys the original market price system, but it may be a stimulant with a lot of poison in the long-term operation. Different from other companies who often target their promotional measures directly at end consumers, Wahaha’s promotional focus is on dealers. The company will launch a variety of products according to market changes, competitors’ changes and its own product configuration within a certain period of time. The promotion policy is repeated all year round, every month.

The promotional policy aimed at dealers not only stimulates the enthusiasm of dealers at all levels, but also guarantees their profits, so it can form a price system that promotes sales without disrupting the entire market.On the contrary, relying on promotions that directly benefit consumers makes dealers unprofitable and lacks motivation, and eventually competes to lower prices and disrupts retail prices. Zong Qinghou believes that brand owners often have a fundamental judgment when facing distributors and consumers.In his understanding, when a brand owner introduces a new product, one of the first things that should be done is to forcefully drive away the market and generate sales expectations.During this period, it is natural to pour all the human, financial and material resources into the network channels to cultivate a loyal customer base.After completing this work, the focus of work should be shifted to consumers. As long as the price difference system within the distribution system is formed, more preferential policies should be put on the retail terminal.But more companies often do the opposite.

In order to expand sales and introduce a competitive mechanism, many companies like to choose three to four distributors in one region, hoping to expand the market through competition among them and keep sales rising.However, Wahaha’s strategy is to choose a company to carry out authorized distribution. The company assigns personnel to help it carry out sales for free, and guarantees that no foreign goods will impact the region. The dealer must pay Wahaha in advance and implement the orders issued by the headquarters without compromise. Various promotional policies and activities, and strive to complete the sales tasks set at the beginning of the year.

In Zong Qinghou's strategic design, the interests of dealers have always been placed in a very important position.Zong Jun believes that it is unacceptable to those marketing actions that may harm its interests.When many companies do marketing, they often consider their own profits. As long as they sell the goods to the dealers, it is considered a success. However, Wahaha's thinking is to consider the profit space for the dealers in reverse. In the first half of 2001, there was a marketing case that could be used for reference.A Taiwanese beverage giant vigorously promoted iced black tea in the mainland market. Its advertisements and promotions were very powerful. The market was quickly opened up, and the consumption concept of "iced black tea" was established. .At this time, the company immediately launched a tie-in policy, and a certain proportion of instant noodles must be tied with the purchase of iced black tea. It didn’t take long for the market to reverse, and competitors—including Wahaha—were taking advantage of the market it had opened earlier The gap was quickly rushed in, and the original marketing advantages of Taiwanese brands suddenly weakened a lot.From this we can see how important it is for manufacturers to strategically control the market by protecting the interests of distributors.

After China's accession to the WTO, with the continuous evolution of the economy, the control of the market will be more and more concentrated in the hands of some super brands. Quality and service have become the premise of participating in the competition rather than the key to winning or losing.At such a time, how brand owners mobilize the enthusiasm of dealers, form long-term strategic partnerships with them, and jointly win the market through an orderly price difference system is a topic worthy of attention and research. The ability of marketers is mainly reflected in control, and the control between regions is particularly difficult.Like all marketers, one of Zong Qinghou's most troublesome problems in market planning is the rush of goods between various regional markets.

The Chinese market has a vast territory. Due to differences in economic conditions, consumption capabilities and development levels among provinces and regions, the sales volume of products varies greatly.The sales volume of Wahaha in the three provinces is different. In order to activate the market, the headquarters must also have different CIF prices, promotional support and policies for dealers in each province. It is inevitable that products from one locality will be sold in another locality.The frequent occurrence of this situation will inevitably lead to disorder among the markets, such as ants eating a levee, often causing an orderly market system to collapse inadvertently.In the past ten years or so, countless enterprises have fallen and failed to recover.

Wahaha has set up a special organization to tour the country to investigate and deal with dealers who flush goods, and the punishment is so severe that it is rare in the industry.When Zong Qinghou and his marketing managers went to the market, the first thing they looked at was the batch number on the product.Once it is found that the batch number does not match the region, it will be strictly investigated to the end. However, to completely solve the problem of restocking, the root solution is to strictly allocate and control the radius of influence of distributors at all levels. On the one hand, it fully protects its sales interests in the region, and on the other hand, it strictly prohibits its foreign dumping.In recent years, Wahaha has given up the previous strategy of recruiting dealers widely and accepting all comers. It has begun to select partners to develop and support major customers from among many dealers. Its intensive cultivation has tapped the potential of the regional market. The control of variety and rhythm reflects the self-confidence and ability of a mature and strong enterprise in the market.The setting of a company's marketing strategy at a certain stage is nothing more than the following considerations: consumer demand, company development, and competitors' actions.Wahaha's purified water, fruit milk, eight-treasure porridge and other products have the largest market share in the country, so it often becomes the "imaginary enemy" for other companies to set marketing strategies.Throughout the year, Zong Qinghou's desk is filled with a stack of battle reports about competitors' channel grabbing and marketing promotions against Wahaha.To respond to all changes with the same is obviously too big; to respond to all changes with all changes is undoubtedly passive in every possible way.Zong's strategy for this is basically: focus on me, make appropriate adjustments, avoid the edge, and win with endurance. Zong Qinghou likened this strategy to "playing the piano": when the opponent uses the low-price strategy to snatch the market, Wahaha often does not carry out targeted confrontation.In Zong Qinghou's view, this is undoubtedly a waste of money, the gain outweighs the loss, and it is easy to fall into the trap of the opponent-it is likely to disrupt and destroy your entire market system at the expense of a non-main product.Often, Wahaha will avoid direct confrontation, and use its own advertising and brand advantages to make inferences on other products.When the opponent grabs a certain market, exhausts its strength and starts to raise the price, it responds quickly and suddenly launches a strong promotion.The opponent's overall strength and market foundation were already inferior, so the initiative and control were soon returned to Wahaha's hands.In this sense, the reason for the defeat of countless brands that competed with Wahaha in the market is often not because of how powerful Wahaha is, but because its opponents are often at a loss after spending a lot of money to open up the market. Or eager to make a profit, so that they get confused.Clausewitz has a famous saying in "On War" that can be used as a footnote to Wahaha's offensive and defensive strategies: In the eyes of a brilliant strategist, defense is a relative posture, so it must contain more or less the truth of offense. As a marketer, what you are after is nothing more than the word "momentum".Aura refers to brand power, advertising power, and product attractiveness; power refers to the market pattern and network structure.If there is power but no power, it is only thunder but not rain. It has a great reputation and poor returns. It is just an expensive "conspicuous marketing"; great cause.Only when the energy is stored up, the energy is gathered to form momentum, and the momentum is united, can the energy be like a long rainbow and the momentum be the same as a broken bamboo.These truths are just a few lines of words, but it is not easy to understand the mystery of them.