Xiaomi-style "sense of participation" is not something that everyone can afford

"Sense of Participation" is a book written by Li Wanqiang, Vice President of Xiaomi. The book has been popular since it was published in August 2014. Rather than saying that this book is a good case collection for traditional enterprises to transform into the Internet, it is better to say that Xiaomi has submitted an impressive report to the high-end business and financial circles after it became successful in the Diaosi circle. It turns out that Xiaomi has been quietly mixing in the Diaosi circle, busy grabbing users, busy coaxing fans, and busy fulfilling the promised weekly iteration. Whether you are in the media or business school, discussing model trends or management operations, I don’t have time to play with you. Now I am quite successful, and it seems to have triggered a wave of research and learning in traditional enterprises, and has attracted great attention from business leaders. Didn’t Xiaomi’s Lei Lao and Gree’s Dong Mingzhu have an episode of gambling at the CCTV Economic Person of the Year Award Ceremony? Didn’t Vanke’s Yu Liang take senior executives to visit and learn? Therefore, the publication of "Sense of Participation" can be regarded as Xiaomi’s systematic introduction to the industry of "how I play" and threw out a concept of "sense of participation" as an industry leader.

Many people see the sense of participation and simply understand it as a simple interaction with users at the marketing level, so you will find that many small and medium-sized business owners or individuals are trying to play with the fan economy. They will appear wherever they can show their faces on the Internet, the so-called "land, sea and air" operations. Xiaomi's sense of participation can be simply summarized as follows: in today's Internet era, consumers no longer simply choose products and services based on function, brand or even experience, but the best way to consume is participatory consumption, that is, users can participate in all aspects of product development, management and operation, marketing and after-sales.

The principle is simple, but it has indeed overturned the traditional management, operation and marketing methods, and has also caused headaches for many traditional business owners, so everyone has begun to learn and practice participation. I think most traditional small and medium-sized enterprise owners face the following challenges when learning Xiaomi's participation approach:

1. Does the industry or product you are currently engaged in have a high growth rate?

There is a popular joke recently: Around 2000, you missed the Internet, but Zhang Chaoyang and Li Yanhong seized it; in 2008, you missed e-commerce, but Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong seized it; in 2014, the spring breeze of mobile Internet, are you still hesitating? To put it bluntly, it is whether you can take advantage of the trend, but I want to say that this trend is too big and difficult to grasp. Those who can seize this trend are just like those who win the jackpot. You see, Lei Jun worked at Kingsoft for so many years, but why did he choose to make mobile phones in the end? Xiaomi entered the smartphone market in 2010. In 2010, domestic smartphone sales accounted for only 16% of the domestic smartphone market share and almost zero global market share. In 2013, this figure reached 72% in the domestic market and 33.8% in the world. This is a very large room for growth, and the time for growth has come. The new generation of consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s are rising, e-commerce has exploded, and the mobile Internet era has arrived. In this excellent opportunity, Xiaomi not only seized the opportunity, but also made contributions to the industry. However, it is undeniable that Xiaomi's success was bathed in the spring breeze of the industry's general trend. Even Lei Jun himself described Xiaomi's success: standing on the vent of the wind, even pigs can fly.

Therefore, whether you are an entrepreneur or an individual, it is important to see the situation clearly. Seeing the situation clearly does not mean that you will succeed, but at least you can avoid detours and avoid going astray. It can also give you more faith and firmness in your beliefs in the process of realizing your dreams.

2. Where does the excellent team that can adapt to transformational operations come from?

Xiaomi's "sense of participation" is very good, but the key issue is that to make users really participate, you need an excellent team, and your team must hold all of this. Xiaomi's management style sounds very strange, no clocking in at work, countless overtime, all-staff customer service, seamless communication between all employees, and a flat organizational structure. I can summarize all of this in a straightforward way: the leadership is very visionary and broad-minded, the technical staff are very good, and the employees are very dedicated. This team must have developed from small to large, but it must have been attracted one by one, this is a process of attraction. First of all, from the founder to the founding team, everyone must be good, and then you can attract a group of good people to work together. Didn't Ali say that he accompanied Lei Jun to invite experts more than once, and when he met rare talents, he talked for five or six hours or even all night. One of the good guys finally joined Xiaomi because he couldn't stand the physical strength to talk any more, so he just agreed. Regardless of whether this expert joined because of this, it is worth thinking about how to discover great people, invite them to join the team, and inspire their enthusiasm. This is very important. I think having a dream is only one aspect. The most important thing is to make people feel that it is reliable to work with you to realize this dream. If the management is excellent, an excellent corporate culture will follow.

3. Do you have the courage and capital to take drastic measures?

This is actually the most important point, and it is also the most frustrating for many traditional business owners. In fact, everyone understands the truth, but it is difficult to do it. Many traditional enterprises shout that they want to go online every day, but they are not sure when they actually do it. So you will see some tentative approaches, for example, I have to appear wherever I can be seen on the Internet, I must be on any social media platform, I also have Weibo, WeChat, and public accounts, I also interact in the community, I also organize promotional activities, and even some event marketing. Some of them are a little bit decent, playing the emotional card in brand building, and focusing on data analysis to improve operations and marketing effects. But after doing it for a while, I found that the fans did not increase, the orders did not increase, but there were more operational personnel and investment. So I decided to postpone the investment and development in this area. I want to say that this approach is a tentative transformation, trying to eat a fat man in one bite. Maybe you can see results if you stick to it for another month, but you give up halfway. The problem is: in addition to not being able to see the situation clearly and not being firm, there is also a point that you are worried about the ROI of the investment. It is nothing more than what Jack Ma said: Today is cruel, tomorrow is cruel, the day after tomorrow is beautiful, but most people die tomorrow night, which is both a pity and helpless. So Jack Ma encouraged everyone at the Nasdaq listing site, and we should persist in our dreams, just in case they come true! Of course, there is one thing that everyone is reluctant to say, which is too vulgar but too important, that is, you have to have money and capital to persist in playing these games. If you really can't afford it, it's not good to play yourself into an embarrassing situation.

Finally, I will end this article with the opinion of Lei Jun, the boss of Xiaomi. Lei Jun once talked about the three key factors for entrepreneurial success: choosing a big market, building the best team, and getting endless money. It suddenly became clear. There are many rich people in this world, but few can create a Xiaomi. There are also many people who have money and teams, but they can't catch up with the general trend and die at the wrong time. I would like to add one more point. The order of these three points cannot be wrong. After talking so much, there is no need to explain it. Finally, I would like to add one more sentence quietly. Don't just watch the thief eat the meat and not see the thief being beaten. You can't afford the sense of participation in Xiaomi. Do what you should do and cherish it!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.