When we provide consulting services for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises, we find a commonality: sales growth is what small and medium-sized enterprises are most concerned about, and all the means they take are to promote direct sales growth. However, the use of sales methods by these enterprises is too simple and extensive, and they often think that this is an immediate effect. As a result, the sustained growth of sales volume was damaged, and finally an unbreakable sales bottleneck was formed. Enterprises are helpless and fall into a vicious circle.

We believe that marketing management is the core of sales work, and only by establishing a good management foundation can sales achieve sustained growth. Here we simulate this case through consulting services for small and medium-sized enterprises. According to some representative enterprises, through the description of the case, we explain how to break through the sales bottleneck through marketing management. I hope this case can provide some practical operational ideas for the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Brief introduction of enterprise background

1, enterprise nature: limited liability company, state-owned system transformation.

2. Main business: food and beverage.

3. Annual sales: 80 million yuan.

Second, the current situation of marketing management in this enterprise

1, marketing organization structure

(1) Position setting: sales manager, regional sales supervisor.

(2) Responsibility and authority: the regional sales supervisor directly reports to the general manager of marketing, who mainly coordinates the work of the regional sales supervisor.

2. Number of marketing personnel:

(1) Marketing personnel: 1.

(2) Sales supervisor: about 20 people, divided into three situations: 1 people in charge of one province, several people in charge of one province, 1 people in charge of several provinces.

3, marketing management system:

(1) Incentive system: the salesman competition system, in which the salesmen who participate in the competition put forward their own practices and sufficient reasons for the target market, sales target and expense target. You can go to work after approval. The competition is held once a year.

(2) Salary system: basic salary+commission system.

4. Marketing operation mode

(1) Focus on the wholesale market, mainly making use of the rapid distribution capacity of the wholesale market, so that products can quickly penetrate into the vast rural market.

(2) Rely on the strength of dealers to occupy the market and hand over the responsibility of market making to dealers. The sales performance of an enterprise depends on the promotion ability and willingness of dealers.

(3) The sales supervisor directly manages the dealers from the headquarters, and there is no branch office. Most of them are telephone communication, and sales executives spend little time in the front line of the market.

(4) Stimulate sales growth with low prices and rebates, mainly by using the price advantage among leading brands to cover the rural low-end market.

5. Market competitive position:

(1) has a market share of 4 or 5 among similar products, belonging to a mid-range brand and at the forefront of the same brand.

(2) It has a certain popularity in the wholesale market, and the products entered the market earlier, and established a certain market base by relying on low prices.

(3) At present, it is under the double attack of leading brands and low-end brands. The former has brand advantage and network advantage, while the latter has price advantage, which makes enterprises fall into a dilemma, especially in the off-season of sales.

6. Professional level of marketing

(1) Marketing personnel adopt competitive recruitment system, and many sales executives come from production departments, lacking actual sales experience, and the efficiency of developing and managing the market is not high.

(2) Old salespeople basically rely on years of accumulated business experience to carry out their work, but they lack systematic sales methods and are lazy.

Third, the characteristics of enterprise marketing management

1, simple marketing organization structure

(1) The functions of the marketing headquarters are in a defective state: the standardized marketing management process has not been established, and many functions such as strategic planning, tactical formulation, plan management, information management, logistics management, regional management, advertising management, etc. lack or have no clear division of responsibilities and rights.

(2) Regional branches are in a virtual state: nominally, the company has sales executives in various regions, but the sales executives usually stay at the headquarters most of the time, adopting a virtual control mode for their respective jurisdictions, and basically relying on telephone communication for the management of dealers.

2. Strictly control marketing expenses.

(1) The basic salary of the sales supervisor is very small, and it depends entirely on the sales commission.

(2) All deliveries are return buses, and the whole logistics delivery time is basically 7- 10 days (from the payment date), so the transportation cost is low.

(3) The sales expenses that the sales supervisor can flexibly use are low.

(4) Do not set up regional branches to save personnel costs.

3, relying on experience to promote

(1) It is difficult to see the systematic analysis of the market and the overall marketing strategy planning of enterprises.

(2) The sales plans of enterprises are basically made by experience, so there is often an imbalance between production and sales, which leads to shortage or backlog and affects the growth of sales.

4. Take low price as the main marketing promotion means.

(1) In the past two years, the price of mainstream products of this enterprise has dropped by nearly 50%, on the one hand, it is its own strategic positioning, on the other hand, it is the pressure of leading brands to reduce prices.

(2) Lack of mature marketing model, one is that there is no systematic promotion, and the other is that there is no summary of promotion effect. The reason for this situation is the low marketing quality of sales staff.

Fourth, the current sales problems faced by enterprises

1, off-season sales are in a dilemma.

(1) One difficulty is the suppression of enterprises by leading brands. On the basis of strong brands and networks, leading brands put pressure on following brands to reduce prices, one is to clean up brand-name products in the market, and the other is to penetrate into low-end rural markets.

(2) The second difficulty is the price interception of low-end brands. Low-end brands use the price advantage formed by low cost to focus on the promotion of local rural markets and have strong competitiveness in regional market segments.

(3) Under the double attack of the above two brands, the enterprise has no advantage in brand, network and price, and is in a state of relying on the previous influence and the strength of dealers to sell, and the whole is passive.

2. Sales lack growth potential.

(1) The target market of this enterprise is the countryside, so more than 80% of its sales come from the wholesale market. However, the price difference between the off-season and the peak season of the wholesale market is increasing day by day, which is double-attacked by competitive brands.

(2) The growth point of the enterprise's sales mainly lies in the deep development of the market, but the growth of the enterprise is relatively weak due to the lack of overall supporting measures.

3. Lack of effective sales model

(1) The sales performance of this enterprise basically depends on the ability of dealers, but the enterprise lacks the ability to use dealers. It is completely developed by dealers themselves, not by enterprises guiding dealers, but by dealers pulling enterprises.

(2) Enterprises have no other means to promote market development and have not established a mature marketing promotion model except introducing new products and adopting price reduction or rebate policies.

An analysis of the causes of the sales problem of verbs (the abbreviation of verb)

1, the marketing organization is not perfect.

(1) First of all, the lack of marketing functional departments at headquarters makes it impossible for enterprises to make overall planning of marketing strategies and establish a systematic promotion model.

(2) Secondly, there is a lack of regional branch management institutions, the management of dealers is too extensive, the focus of market management is too high, and the ability to control the market is very weak.

2. There is no clear marketing strategy.

(1) I don't know the characteristics of the target consumer group of this product, have no clear market positioning, and have no clear understanding of my position in the market, so I don't know the development direction of the product, and just passively follow the footsteps of competitive brands.

(2) Due to the vague strategic positioning, the whole marketing work lacked foresight, failed to adapt to the changes in the market in time, and failed to establish a sound distribution network with certain market influence at that time, so that it was attacked by competitive brands at present.

3. Lack of systematic market analysis.

(1) lacks a systematic analysis of market trends, sales data, market structure and marketing promotion effect, and the whole marketing promotion work is blind, mainly following the actions of competitive brands to make random adjustments, lacking the initiative of marketing promotion.

(2) When carrying out marketing work, the implementation of tactics lacks pertinence, that is, when launching a sales policy, due to the lack of grasp of the market, the reasons for its implementation and the possible effects often cannot accurately hit the key points of the market.

4. The distribution structure is relatively simple.

(1) At present, the main channel of this enterprise is the wholesale market. At present, the domestic circulation market is facing transformation. The wholesale market is shrinking every year, while the retail market is growing rapidly, which is reflected in the sales performance of this enterprise. The single wholesale market distribution system has become an obstacle to the sustainable development of this enterprise.

(2) At present, it is very difficult to quickly adjust this distribution system structure, which involves many adjustments, including the adjustment of dealers, sales organizations, products and expenses, which will affect the success of enterprise transformation.

5. Regional management is not in place.

(1) Lack of key market management. Although there are three best-selling regional markets in China, these are the results of dealers' own development. Enterprises do not systematically manage and summarize the successful experience of the market, so they lack a successful sales model.

(2) The sales supervisor's management of the regional market is too simple, the guidance to the dealers is not enough, and the follow-up to the market is not enough, so he can't respond to the market changes in time and often falls into a passive situation.

6. The professional skills of salespeople are limited.

(1) Many sales executives in this enterprise don't have enough marketing knowledge, so they can't make reasonable judgments on many market problems and guide dealers effectively. Instead, they must accept the guidance of the dealer.

(2) Some sales executives lack sales skills, and communication with dealers is often irrelevant, and sales work is chaotic and inefficient.

7. Insufficient sales logistics support

(1) There is no perfect logistics distribution management, and there is no specialized personnel to handle complicated storage and transportation affairs. Instead, marketers need to bear the responsibility of goods distribution, and their energy can't hit the development of sales business. They often have to "grab goods" in factories, which reduces work efficiency.

(2) The lack of promotional items, such as posters, banners, etc., makes it impossible for dealers to promote the brand in the market, resulting in an obvious lack of brand influence in the market.

8. monotonous sales methods

(1) The sales mode of this enterprise basically stays on the rebate of price reduction, and the purpose of each rebate promotion is not very clear, whether it is to expand consumer groups or increase consumption, build momentum or ban competitive brands, consolidate customer relations or stimulate purchases, and so on. And there is no clear strategy, just relying on experience and the idea that "these methods are often used and should be effective".

(2) In addition to not adopting rich sales methods, it has not done enough to guide dealers to promote sales, mainly because the use of rebates is not standardized. In order to get rebates, dealers often lower the wholesale price, thus undermining the normal price system. When the rebates are cancelled, they in turn put pressure on manufacturers to reduce prices. All these problems indicate that enterprises lack a mature promotion model and cannot guide and monitor the behavior of dealers.

Sixth, the misunderstanding of the marketing management of this enterprise.

1, the coordination between short-term interests and long-term development has not been resolved.

(1) The overall marketing behavior tends to get the maximum benefit in the short term, that is, it pays attention to the short-term return rate of capital investment, and has no clear understanding of the long-term use direction of funds.

(2) When the sales situation is good, the system adjustment is ignored, and when the sales situation is poor, the funds are lacking, forming a vicious circle.

2. There is no correct understanding of cost and investment.

(1) Too much consideration is given to the cost factor, while the change of market competition situation is ignored. For projects related to the sustainable development of enterprises, such as the construction of distribution network, we should use the awareness of investment to measure the expenditure of funds, and we should not blindly consider the problem of expense rate.

(2) Enterprises have no strategic consideration for capital expenditure projects, and always think that they can't overspend, while competitors focus their resources on market priorities, which has caused great pressure on them. As a result, once a good market opportunity is lost, it can no longer be recovered by increasing investment.

3, decision-making and management rely too much on experience.

(1) There is no scientific decision-making mechanism and management mechanism, and it relies mainly on experience, which inevitably has great limitations. The key is to create a good environment for decision-making and management to operate according to certain norms, thus improving work efficiency.

(2) Too much experience in decision-making and management. First, the accuracy of the strategy cannot be guaranteed. Second, the enthusiasm of employees is limited, and the vitality of enterprises is affected.

Seven, the root of enterprise marketing management problems.

1. There are defects in the marketing management system.

(1) decision-making system: A system that relies too much on experience makes it impossible for enterprises to form a mature operating mechanism, which increases the cost of enterprise decision-making, and also makes it impossible to popularize some successful experiences, thus reducing the experience curve of enterprises and increasing the risk of enterprise decision-making.

(2) Communication system: The lack of smooth communication channels greatly reduces the accuracy and execution of the strategy, thus reducing the effectiveness of marketing.

(3) Incentive system: there is no prospect target for employees in terms of salary and career planning, which separates individual behavior from company behavior, fails to form a unified code of conduct and corporate culture, and also increases the internal friction of enterprises and reduces the efficiency of all work.

(4) Organizational system: the content of the whole organizational function is too simple, and it is impossible to establish basic workflow, and the work efficiency of employees cannot be monitored, and the overall degree of specialization is very low; Moreover, the focus of enterprise management is too high, leaving the front line of the market and the market response speed is slow.

2. The marketing specialization is low.

(1) The degree of specialization of the department is low: there is no professional marketing function department to systematically plan the overall marketing work, which makes the marketing behavior very random and reduces the work efficiency.

(2) Low degree of personnel specialization: marketers generally have low marketing quality, so the implementation of marketing tactics is often not in place, lacking basic sales skills and the ability to draw inferences in practical work, which greatly reduces the effect of marketing policies.

(3) Low degree of promotion specialization: lack of systematic analysis and summary in marketing promotion, basically relying on experience to do things, no systematic promotion means, and many basic promotion requirements are not mastered, which reduces the promotion effect.

Eight, the focus of enterprise marketing management.

1, marketing management system reform

(1) The problems in sales are only appearances, and the reform of marketing management system is the root for enterprises to get out of the predicament, and the key is to create a good internal environment.

(2) The key points of marketing management system reform are: decision-making system, organization system and incentive system. The establishment of these systems will help to improve the professionalism of the overall marketing work of enterprises.

2, the introduction of sales platform marketing system:

(1) The sales platform system is an effective marketing management system developed by Zhihui Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd. Its core idea is to make the sales work of the enterprise run on a good platform and achieve the integrated effect through systematic management.

(2) The sales platform system covers six aspects: distribution network construction, in-depth distribution operation, interactive promotion, sales organization establishment, sales personnel management and sales logistics management, and comprehensively builds a standardized sales management system for enterprises.

(3) The construction of the sales platform system will design the most suitable marketing management system according to the marketing strategic planning of the enterprise and the existing resources of the enterprise. It is not a simple combination of the above six aspects, but an effective integration of different systems under the same strategic goal; At the same time, there is also a process of business content among the six aspects, which is to improve the professional level of the whole sales work through the process.

3. Standardized management of sales staff

(1) No matter how the marketing system is reformed, the promotion of the marketing quality of salespeople should be the core task. Without the specific implementation of personnel, even the best strategy is just a castle in the air.

(2) The standardized management of sales staff is the key factor. When they don't have professional level, we should guide them to develop good thinking mode and work habits through standardization, and then gradually stimulate their creativity.

Nine, enterprise marketing management reconstruction strategy.

1, with the construction of distribution network platform as the core.

(1) Adjust its current single distribution structure, break the situation of relying solely on the wholesale market, and gradually strengthen the control of retail terminals.

(2) integrate its decentralized distribution system, so that dealers can adjust their strategies according to the requirements of enterprises, and at the same time adjust the dealers who do not meet the requirements, thus truly establishing a stable distribution network.

2. Focus on the deep distribution management system.

(1) Carry out in-depth system management on the transformed distribution network platform, assist the dealer network to improve its overall operation capability and establish a good channel alliance.

(2) Through systematic management, distribution network has become the core competitiveness of enterprises, thus promoting enterprises to March into the depth and breadth of the market and improving brand penetration.

3. Interactive promotion is the key.

(1) Change the original simple experience promotion means, carry out diversified promotion activities, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the distribution network under the overall strategic goal.

(2) By means of promotion, fully assist dealers to establish a stable distribution network system at lower levels and strengthen the awareness of strategic alliance, instead of simply aiming at stimulating sales in the short term.

(3) Analyze and summarize the successful promotion experience of various markets, and effectively integrate and form the promotion means of the enterprise's own system, and enjoy and replicate it among various markets.

4. Based on the sales organization platform.

(1) Adjust the original simple sales organization and set up professional functional departments of headquarters and regional offices. On the one hand, it will improve the strategic planning ability of headquarters, on the other hand, it will reduce the sales management focus of enterprises and improve the response speed to market changes.

(2) Take the regional office as a platform for enterprises to control the market, and at the same time give marketers an environment to give full play to their abilities, thus improving the overall marketing level.

5. Based on sales staff management.

(1) Formulate a standardized sales staff management system to improve the professional level of sales staff, thus improving the accuracy and effectiveness of the company's policy implementation.

(2) Establish a challenging incentive system, combine the personal development of salespeople with the development of the company, and give material rewards and career development space.

6. Backstage support is sales logistics management.

(1) Establish professional sales plan management, information management, logistics management and transaction management systems, so as to eliminate worries for salespeople and provide a huge support background, so that salespeople can concentrate on the front line of the market.

(2) Implement process management and interactive management in the sales logistics management platform, so that it can fully cooperate with the development of the front line of the market, reduce the internal friction of communication and improve the overall market response speed of the enterprise.

Ten, the implementation and effect of enterprise marketing management system reform.

1. The consultants of Shanghai Zhihui Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd. have fully understood and systematically analyzed the enterprise's operating conditions, existing problems, root causes, solutions and adjustment priorities, and submitted five sets of marketing management reform consulting reports to the enterprise, covering five aspects of distribution system restructuring, in-depth distribution management, sales business management, regional market restructuring and marketing strategic planning, and reconstructed a perfect marketing management system from a global perspective; At the same time, it also guides enterprises to choose two pilot markets and practice and shape a brand-new marketing management system.

2, the implementation process of management change:

(1) The consultant of Shanghai Zhihui Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd. and the marketing general manager and sales manager of the enterprise * * * formed a project team, and made a detailed understanding of the internal operation and external environment of the enterprise. Through interviews with a large number of dealers and in-depth market research, the project team established the reorganization of the distribution system as a breakthrough in the construction of the core competitiveness of enterprises, and optimized and integrated the organization and personnel with this as the center.

(2) Re-establish market positioning in marketing strategy, focusing on secondary prefecture-level cities. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the existing wholesale market system, on the other hand, it is necessary to rapidly develop the retail market system, especially the rapidly developing supermarkets; In this level of market, we can not only get the existing benefits, but also enter the supermarket retail network at a lower cost, thus gradually improving the control over the market and truly establishing the core competitiveness of the distribution system.

(3) The marketing organization system has been adjusted in two aspects: first, in view of the weak links in its market operation, 1 marketing personnel and 1 sales logistics personnel have been added at the headquarters to be responsible for publicity, promotion, planning and distribution respectively, which has improved the support ability of the marketing headquarters to the sales front line; Second, in view of the shortage of sales staff, three resident sales representatives were added under the sales directors in three key areas to subdivide the market management areas and strengthen intensive cultivation of the market. The principle of these two adjustments is that the personnel cost will not increase too much, and the sales team will be streamlined, which will not bring management difficulties to the enterprise.

(4) In terms of distribution management, according to the actual situation of the enterprise, the project team will focus on systematic management of wholesalers, requiring dealers to master the key wholesalers that account for more than 60% of their business volume, establish customer files, and master the monthly sales volume, product sales volume, best-selling varieties, product flow direction and market changes of each key wholesale customer; At the same time, dealers should also provide services such as delivery, business guidance, promotion and information exchange for wholesalers, and sales staff should also visit wholesalers systematically, so as to establish real alliances with customers and improve product loyalty.

(5) In personnel management, first, all sales executives were trained intensively, and the key points of current marketing system adjustment were clarified. At the same time, the disadvantages of their previous working methods are pointed out, and new work requirements are put forward: standardizing work content and process. Then, establish and integrate two sets of management systems: target system and performance system, and refine and optimize three sales business processes: customer development process, customer visit process and information transmission process, so as to ensure the efficiency of the whole sales process.

(6) In terms of promotion, five adjustments have been made: first, the requirements for the use of dealer promotion fees have been stipulated, which must be used for the network construction of lower-level wholesale customers; The second is to control the distribution ratio of promotion expenses and entrust most of the expenses to wholesalers; Third, flexible promotion forms have been carried out, and the proportion and form of monthly promotion expenses are different during the promotion period, which has mobilized the enthusiasm of dealers to make full use of the policy; Fourth, the sales staff are required to unblock the wholesale channels and retail channels in time to avoid the blockage of goods; Fifth, two hard standards are stipulated: customer coverage and sales volume, taking into account the requirements of long-term network construction and short-term sales growth.

3. Effect after implementation of the change:

(1) Direct effect: During the three-month pilot period in the two pilot markets, the average sales increased by 175%, of which the lower growth rate was 130% and the higher growth rate was 220%, which was completely unexpected by the senior leaders of the enterprise.

(2) Indirect effect: After three months' work, 750 key wholesaler customer alliances have been established in three key areas, and the coverage of wholesale market has increased from less than 20% to 60%, and that of retail market has increased from 5% to nearly 20%. The process of effective development and maintenance of customers by sales staff runs smoothly, and the promotion model has matured. The marketing and sales staff of the enterprise marketing headquarters have effectively undertaken a lot of logistics work and sales. Through the strengthening and integration of these links, the overall marketing system of the enterprise is gradually smooth and the marketing operation level is greatly improved.

Closing remarks

Through our consultation and assistance, the enterprise has made remarkable improvement in just three months, which shows that the enterprise has great potential to improve its overall performance through marketing management; However, there are still many problems to be solved in enterprises. We just start from the most urgent problems, build a model of marketing management system, and let enterprises establish their own transformation ability.

Small and medium-sized enterprises still have a long way to go to win development through management reorganization. The most important thing is to establish the concept of sustained profit growth, look at the bottleneck encountered in the development of enterprises from the perspective of overall marketing management, find out the root of the problem fundamentally, reorganize with systematic management, and finally break through the bottleneck and move towards a higher level of development.