"Fei Huang! Fei Huang!"
“Crossing Hukou, connecting the two places!”
“The Yellow River bends like nine curves, yet the Chinese sentiment remains unchanged!”
Almost all newspaper headlines were used to report Ke Shouliang's success. Whether it was the serious central media or the more down-to-earth local media, they all gave high praise and profound interpretation. At the same time, the advertisement of Bencao Oral Liquid, carefully produced by Phoenix Bird and Teng Jinglin, also landed on the prime time of major satellite TV stations, and through this 10-second advertisement, the already well-known health concept of the "Flying Yellow" scene was further elaborated. The exquisite sense of picture, warm lens language, and especially the slogan "Bencao Oral Liquid, your health is more important than anything else" made Bencao Ruolan's corporate image and product positioning completely different from Sanshu Oral Liquid, which is shining in the health care product market.
This is what Wen, Fan and Meng want. Instead of competing with Sanshu in the low-end market, it is better to directly upgrade to a higher level and capture the middle and high-end groups. Although it may be slightly inferior in terms of market share data, it is undoubtedly a better choice in terms of profit points, customer loyalty and long-term planning!
Bencao Ruolan previously divided the country into five major regions: Central China, East China, North China, South China and Northeast China. A marketing branch was established in each region. The branch adopted the general manager responsibility system and set up human resources department, terminal department, finance department and marketing department. A three-level distribution system was established in provinces, cities and counties, and channel construction was basically completed.
As the advertising effect was magnified exponentially, the sales in the five major regions were booming. Not only in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but also in some remote third-tier cities that were not in the plan, the supply was insufficient to meet the demand. Fan Bo fully demonstrated his outstanding talent as a marketing master, managing everything in an orderly manner, conquering cities and conquering territories, and squeezing the living space of other health products like a dark horse. Even the industry leader Sanshu felt this fierce offensive. In order to ensure the sales target of 8 billion in 1996, Wu Jiaxin added another 500 million in advertising budget.
However, as John Wanamaker, the founder of the American department store industry, once said, "I only know that half of my advertising expenses are wasted, but I don't know which half." The additional marketing budget of Sanshu to deal with competitors can only have a minimal effect, not to mention being compared with a classic case like "Flying Over the Yellow River" that only occurs once in a decade.
Lu Xu, who volunteered to transfer from the R&D department to the sales department, also grew rapidly in the sales job that could best exercise his personal abilities. Within a few months, he represented the headquarters to travel to all channels in the five major regions. With his own abilities, he was appreciated by Fan Bo and became the deputy general manager of the branch in Central China. His promotion was so fast that he even overshadowed many of Fan Bo's trusted backbones who had been following him since the Biluochun period. A dazzling new star was rising!
Bencao Ruolan made a good start, and Chuangtu Technology followed closely. However, unlike Bencao's high profile, Chuangtu's customers are mainly telecom operators in various provinces and cities. In the context of 1996, they are actually the post and telecommunications bureaus of various provinces and cities and their subordinate telecommunications departments. Dealing with government departments is completely different from the transaction rules between enterprises. It requires tact and retreat. On the one hand, you have to carefully adapt to the unique culture of officialdom, and on the other hand, you have to try your best to avoid being trapped in the unspoken rules and unable to get out. Walking a tightrope at the junction of black and white, if you are not an extraordinary master, it is easy to fall off the cliff!
Therefore, Chuangtu is going to take another path, without overwhelming advertisements and intensive bombardment propaganda, but silently infiltrating the entire Chuangtu into the flesh and blood of the telecommunications network!
Since the early 1990s, the telecommunications market in the Republic has gradually recovered. Especially with the innovation and promotion of program-controlled technology, the national telecommunications network is facing a comprehensive renovation. This is undoubtedly a huge business opportunity, but for the private technology companies that were struggling at the time, on the one hand, they were limited by policies and could not obtain large loans from banks, lacking sufficient funds to support the funds needed for scientific research; on the other hand, due to the lack of scientific research funds, their technology was far behind that of foreign companies, forming an unbreakable paradox. This also caused the post and telecommunications bureaus in large and medium-sized cities and developed provinces to distrust the quality of domestic products. Telecommunications equipment will mostly be purchased from well-known foreign brands, such as Nokia, Ericsson, etc., while domestic suppliers can only barely make a living in some remote towns and villages that large companies have no time to take care of.
As the old saying goes, technology is the primary productive force. How can a spear or a sword fight against a gun or a cannon? The strength is not at the same level at all. How can we compete head-on with them
Therefore, the situation that the local Eighth Route Army could not defeat the foreign devils continued from the 1980s to the mid-1990s. In 1995 and 1996, after the second revolution of local area switching equipment, from a technical perspective, although there was still a gap compared with foreign countries, it could at least meet the needs of the initially developed domestic network. The program-controlled switching patent that Wen Liang had painstakingly obtained from Shangning High-Tech was the best among them!
Under the leadership of Yin Yong, Chuangtu Technology mobilized all human and material resources, gathered a large number of high-tech talents, worked overtime and did not sleep for more than half a year to perfect and commercialize this technology, and produced the first batch of samples at the end of September. Then, through Zuo Jing, he got in touch with the Lingyang Post and Telecommunications Bureau and sent them a free trial. After more than two months of operation, the machine has good heat dissipation, stable circuit, normal parameters, and the overall effect is not worse than foreign equipment, but the price is much cheaper.
However, the next problem was that although Lingyang Post and Telecommunications Bureau showed great interest in Chuangtu's products and praised them, once it came to practical issues such as supply contracts, they immediately dodged and hesitated, and finally told the truth in a vague way: it was not impossible to purchase a small amount of goods locally for the sake of Secretary Zuo, but the municipal bureau did not have enough power for a supply contract of this scale. Without the approval and recognition of the provincial bureau, it would be difficult to predict the consequences of hastily changing the supplier, especially to an unknown private enterprise.
It is true that Yin Yong is a genius, but he focuses more on the technical aspect. He also has his own set of management skills and is good at inspiring people and rallying them. However, how to find a visionary idea to expand, consolidate and occupy the market when being at an absolute disadvantage is not a responsibility he can take on.
Fortunately, Wen Liang was prepared for this! (To be continued)