Offline promotion tips: sharing from Alibaba, Beaver Home, and Wheat Commune

This article comes from the second session of the Ether Startup Salon, "Little Tips for Field Sales and Management". The most important thing for O2O is the ability of field sales. This time we invited three field sales experts to talk with everyone about the little tips for O2O field sales.

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Liu Huiping

With more than ten years of experience in the Internet industry, he has served as a middle or senior manager in Internet companies such as Alibaba and 55tuan. During his nearly six years at Alibaba, he fully absorbed and practiced Alibaba's management and operation models, and has unique practical experience in the management of corporate personnel and the building of high-performance teams in the context of the company's rapid development.

Cai Hong

A core team member and ground promotion manager of Xiaomai Commune, he joined the Xiaomai entrepreneurial team in 2011 and has many years of experience in campus promotion . Currently, the team has established offline ground promotion outlets in 550 universities across the country and has a unique view on ground promotion marketing . Wheat Commune is the largest campus logistics company in the country and also the largest e-commerce campus channel service provider in the country.

Wei and Jin Dynasties

Beaver Home Beijing City Manager, responsible for all business in Beijing and personnel management of all branches. Beaver Home is currently the most popular home beauty startup. Wei Jin has been engaged in sales and marketing related work since 2010. He has served as key account manager of Nuomi.com and deputy director of sales management of Groupon.

On-site recording

1. What should you pay attention to when doing door-to-door sales to attract new customers?

Cai Hong: To do campus promotion, we must grasp the core points of students

In 2011, Xiaomai helped JD.com with campus promotion. Its main strategy was to grasp the core student population, that is, campus agents. A 5% discount coupon is given to campus agents, only applicable to the campus market . Coupons will be issued to agents regularly. As long as they buy computers through them, campus agents can not only make personal profits, but also help their classmates get low prices.

Through its campus marketing team, JD.com tripled its order volume in two years, exceeding the 400 yuan per order.

Cai Hong: Spending money to attract new customers is simple and crude but effective

Xiaomai also helped Yixun with promotion, using a simpler and more crude approach. As long as you place your order through campus channels, you can enjoy free shipping, which is a campus privilege. Each student can place one order every day.

In a short period of time, we made every student in a school place at least one order. We continued to do this in different schools for half a year, and the number of orders increased by 3 times.

The main purpose of Yixun's approach is to attract new users. As long as more users have their first experience and feel the service and think the product is good, the second purchase rate will be very high. This is the marketing method of e-commerce.

Wei Jin: Don’t blindly attract new users. Selection is very important.

In fact, the method used by Beaver Family at the beginning was very traditional.

"One Cent Company Benefits", we cooperate with large companies to provide company benefits and provide employees with solid color nail care at home. The payment to the manicurist is 100 yuan per order, but we only charge the user one cent, with the aim of attracting new users.
But the effect was not very ideal at that time, and the conversion rate was extremely low.

Why is it low? Because this method cannot select users, anyone is willing to do a one-cent project, and the new users attracted will not be retained. The craftsmen have also become lazy. Since the unit price is 100 yuan anyway, they can make money by directly accepting such customers. They will not strive for more business or ask customers to make more styles and designs.

Later, we decided to retain the one-cent company benefit (because this activity can bring about brand communication between companies and is still very valuable), and then launch a 99-yuan gift package activity that only new users can experience, which includes a manicure experience, a 200-yuan Afu essential oil coupon, and a 50-yuan coupon for Beaver House.

From 1 point to 99, this price increase can select users, and the screened users are those who really have a need for manicures. It also stimulates manicurists because there are other coupons in the gift packs, which gives them more sources of income, so it also motivates manicurists to do door-to-door sales.

2. How to manage field sales personnel?

Wei and Jin Dynasties: GPA as the main factor and system as the auxiliary factor

As long as it's sales, it must rely on GPA. But management is indispensable. Let us share a system of Beaver House. We mentioned before the one-cent company welfare activity. When we saw many people posting on Maimai that Beaver Home came to the company today, we found that this was a very good marketing method. Although the conversion rate of this activity is not high, it can bring about communication between companies and is very valuable to us.

However, when sales people go out to work, it is difficult for them to think from the company's perspective. They are more concerned about how to make money. So we have to make regulations and provide guidance. Therefore, we have made some restrictions and set regulations on the industry, company size, and business nature of the BD company to ensure that BDs will find more companies that can bring about company-level communication, most of which are Internet companies.

In addition to this system for specific activities, there are also general systems, such as contacts, visiting cycles, daily report formats, etc., which we provide to field sales personnel.

Cai Hong: Part-time sales promotion needs basic salary + high commission to motivate

Most of Xiaomai’s ground promotion is done through part-time work, which is not as powerful as professional ground promotion. We expand campus agents through city managers, and we also adopt attendance and performance management. The normal part-time salary is 100 yuan a day, and the performance salary is 80 yuan a day, but if you do a good job, you will get a higher commission.

Basic salary is just the foundation of the job. Whether you do a good job or not depends entirely on performance incentives. The focus of each stage is different. Now we are promoting the number of orders, which will become an indicator of performance. I asked the students to visit the dormitories more often, and I would give them five dollars for every user they recruited. The students went crazy and recruited 200 users in one night.

Liu Huiping: The core of field marketing management is the refined and process-based management based on the CRM system

When managing the field sales team, one should focus on the process first, not the results. As long as the process is polished, you can do a good job whether you are managing 50 people or 5,000 people.

Alibaba’s management method is to stipulate three things in the morning, three things during the day, and three things in the evening. The process management is very strict. These tasks all fall into the CRM system. Every evening we have a party to review the day's tasks.

We also have weekly meetings to discuss how many new customers we have visited this week, how many old customers we have returned to, the tracking status of different types of customers, which are small cycles (customers who need to be followed up every week) and which are large cycles (customers who need to be followed up every month or even quarter). These data are directly linked to performance and goals for next week and next month.

Managing people should be based on data and use a CRM system. Management is achieved through monitoring. A supervisor monitors at most 8 BDs, and the manager monitors the supervisors on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

By monitoring different data, we can see the data comparisons of different links such as visits, effective visits, and signing orders. We can see which link of this BD is strong and which link is weak, so as to provide corresponding guidance and support in a targeted manner.

Many people think that there is no need for processes and models in the initial stage of a startup, but in fact, the formation of a management model is very important. Why can WoWo expand from dozens of people to thousands of people? That is to freeze all models. No matter it is one city or several cities, rapid expansion can be achieved as long as standardized replication is carried out. You just need to add levels, add a manager for 50 people and a director for 200 people.

Whoever can use the CRM system well will have the best field sales team. It is more useful than big data, and CRM must also be combined with big data. Anyone who can accumulate data in the CRM system can become No.1.

Ether is using the CRM approach to run its business and is working hard to refine its management processes. It will be able to expand very quickly in the future and connect with more capital and entrepreneurs. This scale effect is very powerful.

Liu Huiping strongly recommends:

I recommend you to study Meituan’s CRM system, it is very well done.

Recommend "Learning Management from the People's Liberation Army" & Huawei's management model (learn Huawei's management logic, grasp the points and keep extending them).

3. How to formulate performance indicators?

Liu Huiping: People who maintain 10%-20% will have their performance deducted

Commissions motivate people, while performance rewards constrain people. All of Alibaba’s performance is directly linked to business performance, and there are many complex indicators. This is different for every company. It is reasonable for 10%-20% of people to have their performance deducted. However, if 80% fail to meet the standards, this indicator is definitely unreasonable.

In addition, it is best to set up a last-in-first-out system. For example, if a company ranks last for three consecutive months and fails to meet the minimum target, it will be eliminated. When looking at indicators, don’t just focus on the short term, but also give employees some time. Alibaba’s policy is to eliminate people at the end of three months, and it is very common to fail to achieve the goal in one month. In addition, Alibaba has a golden medal policy that allows you to get out of trouble. If you are at the bottom of the list for three consecutive months and are about to be eliminated, you can be given another three months if your supervisor is willing to sponsor you. What’s interesting is that those who stay like this often become top sales.

I have to emphasize that it is reasonable for 10-20% of people to fail to meet the performance guarantee, but it is a bit high as an elimination indicator. A 5%-10% elimination rate is enough.

4. How to ensure that field sales staff do not slack off?

Liu Huiping: Managers should develop good management habits

This requires management staff to work hard. You need to have your own management processes and management habits.

For example, you should ask for details like peeling bamboo shoots. There is a party every day where everyone reviews the day’s workload. You have to ask a lot of detailed questions. You can lie once, but it is impossible to lie every time.

You can also accompany the visits and observe the performance of the sales personnel. The supervisor may even need to observe how he arranges the routes for visiting several clients. If the routes are arranged particularly unreasonable, there must be a problem.

The boss still needs to have a sense of management and keep an eye on things.

5. What kind of people do you like to recruit for field marketing?

Wei Jin: People with offline sales experience and hardworking

Beaver Home prefers people with similar sales style and offline sales experience. Telephone salespeople are not good enough because field sales are mostly done offline.

Diligence is important. The important thing is to be diligent. Some people are smart and can accomplish a few big things in a month, but they are usually lazy. Such people will have a negative impact on the team. Others will not learn from his intelligence, but will only learn from his slow pace and visit only a few companies a month. This actually has a bad impact on the team. Because sales abilities vary among individuals, those with weak sales abilities will not be able to learn from him unless they run.

I used to like to recruit two types of people. One type was the extremely awesome ones who wouldn’t listen to anything and just had to bring back the orders. The other type is not smart but very obedient. They will do whatever the boss tells them to do and work very hard. What I dislike most is people in the middle, who are clever but whose execution ability is not particularly outstanding.

You need to have good habits for field promotion. The management of field promotion is actually not much different from being a soldier and fighting in a war. Field promotion does not require too much creativity, but your abilities must be consolidated in the process.

Cai Hong: Toughness is the most important assessment criterion

Do you have confidence in yourself and are you determined? When interviewing, choose people with a strong aura. Be tough. As long as there is a commitment, all means will be used to achieve it.

6. How to carry out hierarchical management?

Cai Hong: Since Xiaomai only targets campuses, its channels are relatively single. It’s still pretty flat right now. It is mainly divided into three levels for management. The 3 campus managers report to the city manager, and the 3 city managers report to the regional manager.

Wei Jin: Beaver House is relatively simple, without too many unnecessary structures. Field sales staff report to supervisors, and supervisors report to managers.

Liu Huiping: A mature supervisor can only manage 8 people, while an ordinary supervisor can manage 6. A supervisor cannot have too few people, otherwise he will have a lot of spare time, but he cannot have too many people, otherwise he will not be able to manage them all. Each team needs to pay attention to the match between new and old employees, with the number of old employees being twice that of new employees. This will help new employees grow quickly and have a sense of belonging.

Just as the discussion was in full swing, a friend at the scene, Wei Ran, the marketing director of Didi Chuxing, raised his own confusion:

Just now, Mr. Liu Huiping mentioned process management based on the CRM system, and I am a little confused.

I previously worked on Baidu's sales CRM system, and later on Baidu's group buying B-side system, so I have some knowledge of CRM. But I have a question. When innovative products are looking for seed users , they need to accumulate gradually. In the early stages, you may not even be sure of the truly effective methods, let alone establish processes. So, how can early innovative products find seed users more effectively through offline marketing?

Share your experience with Didi. When YoYo Car Rental started advertising, its choices were airports and train stations. Didi’s response strategy was to go to the airport, South Station, and West Station to block drivers and ask them to install the app. For a long time, these drivers couldn't tell the difference between YoYo and Didi. However, this is an effective channel that we discovered after many attempts, and it is not achieved by setting goals, following rules, or implementing processes.

7. How can early-stage products find seed users through offline marketing?

Wei and Jin: Find the location first and then the scene

The Beaver family just happens to have some experience to share. We believe that we must first find out where the user base is and where the users are. This is determined by user positioning. This is the most critical. Only by finding the positioning can we determine the scenario and find the most effective ground promotion channel. For example, the current consumption scenario of massage products is very correct. For example, I will lie down directly at home, but I really need a massage to relieve my pain at work, so I think it is a good idea for companies to promote massage products.

Cai Hong: I agree with the way of determining scenes mentioned by Wei Jin. Not only can you choose scenarios for offline promotion, but you can also focus on promoting scenarios with spreadability, which is more efficient. Xiaomai’s user base is very concentrated and they are all in schools, so the measures we take are also very simple. We have to thoroughly understand a school, and only when 80% of the students know about it and 60% of the students buy things on the platform, will we go to the next school. Defeat them one by one and focus on training.

Liu Huiping: There may not be a definite standard. It requires constant trial and error. Be bold in experimenting, be careful in verifying facts, and pay close attention to the data when doing field marketing. What’s the conversion rate like? What’s the sales like? Once you find the right model, you need to copy it madly. I would also like to add that it is indeed difficult for a startup team to have a mature management model, but you can find the best model in your industry, copy it directly, solidify it first and then make it rigid, and then modify and optimize it in the third step.

O2O financing suggestions from Ethereum

Since its establishment a year ago, Ethereum has helped 150 start-up teams successfully raise funds, of which 26% of the projects are in the O2O field. It can be seen that O2O is being favored by the capital market. Some of the more famous cases include Beaver House where this guest Wei Jin works and Wheat Commune where Cai Hong works, both of which are our clients.

Here are some industry observations to share with you:

What areas are becoming difficult to do:

There are large platforms like 58 Daojia for home housekeeping and manicure services, as well as star startups like Beaver Home and Dudu Manicure. It would be difficult for new teams to get in.

Last year, several companies started offering home hair salons, but none of them gained volume quickly, and investors had some concerns about this model.

There are many giants involved in door-to-door delivery, and there are also many star companies in the last mile, including Dada, which has been served by Ether. However, it is difficult to create big opportunities in the last mile delivery.

Which areas still have great opportunities:

From the Ethereum database, we can see that "transformation of traditional industries" is becoming a hot investment focus. In the Ethereum data in 2014, 21.67% of O2O projects were labeled as "traditional industry transformation", and this proportion has continued to rise this year. Therefore, there are actually huge market opportunities for entrepreneurial projects that may seem a bit unconventional and are intended to transform traditional industry processes. (Ether has handled some pig-related projects>_<)

O2O projects such as agriculture, restaurant supply chain, fresh food, and non-staple food are receiving great attention in the capital market. Many people are currently trying this in the pet field, but there is no mature model yet. However, the window period for these sub-sectors is also very short, and there may be no opportunity in just half a year.

So things like financing still need to be done very quickly. When doing things like O2O, don't worry about the dilution ratio. It is better to do it madly, to expand and to occupy the market. Speed ​​is very important. Take more money and provide subsidies during the development process.

What kind of O2O team does capital like most?

Investors like O2O teams to have members with rich experience in traditional industries, rich offline experience, as well as mobile Internet talents. O2O is a combination of elements, and any one of them cannot be missing.

People who come out of Alibaba B2B will be very popular when doing O2O. For example, Mishi is a team that came out of Alibaba. They got angel investors when they didn’t even have a product demo, all thanks to the team’s strength. This is also a star case of Ethereum, which secured a $4 million Archangel investment in just one week.

So, who should pay for the O2O project? A strategic investor may be a better choice. If you don’t take strategic money, the small team may not be able to survive. After clinging to someone powerful, it is possible that you will become independent in the end, like Didi Kuaidi.