wen/chancan
"Look at the various aspects of the pottery industry and comment on the pottery people.
You have stories and I don’t drink. The truth is just as easy to get drunk on.
The second issue of [Weekly Spicy Review] is coming, please prepare watermelons and small benches for ceramic people. ”
1
Controversy is a common phenomenon in the ceramic industry
"I require my employees not to speak ill of their peers. Employees who speak ill of their peers cannot be retained."
On September 24, on the second day of the China Ceramics Network’s 2020 National Ceramic Tile Bathroom Market Survey [Guiyang Station] (hereinafter referred to as the “Guiyang Station Market Survey”), Wang Youde, a Guiyang distributor of Bode Seiko Tiles, said in an interview The words left a deep impression on Brother Zen.
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Why is Brother Chan so impressed by this sentence? Because there are too many things that we have seen and heard in the ceramic industry over the years about ceramic companies and brands despising and slandering each other. Of course, this does not mean that this situation does not exist in other industries. Judging from Brother Chan’s experience in other industries and his own consumption experience, it is just that the situation of mutual contempt and slander among peers in the ceramic industry is more serious.
A senior media person once wrote an article titled "The Chain of Contempt in the Ceramic Industry." In this article, he believes that the chain of contempt for enterprises is roughly "Brand Enterprises > Scale Enterprises > Small and Medium Enterprises > Private Polishing Factory > Supporting Enterprises", while the chain of contempt for production areas is roughly "East China (early Taiwan-funded enterprises) > Guangdong >Fujian>Shandong>Jiangxi>Sichuan>Other production areas”.
In Brother Chan's opinion, either he is kind-hearted, sees through things without telling them, or wants toWhy did he only see the one-way contempt of enterprises and brands in the ceramic industry, but ignored their mutual contempt and slander: usually, leading enterprises/brands look down on small and medium-sized enterprises/brands, while enterprises/brands in East China and Guangdong (Foshan) Look down on companies/brands in other production areas; and many times, small and medium-sized enterprises/brands will speak ill of leading companies/brands, and companies/brands in other production areas will speak ill of companies/brands in East China and Guangdong (Foshan). There is a common phenomenon in the upper reaches of the industry that companies and brands are pitting themselves against each other, especially among dealers who have a tense competitive relationship in the terminal market that faces consumers directly.
To give a very intuitive example, every time the Douyin account of China Ceramics Network reports which brand has won an award or achieved some achievements, the comment area will explode, either with a sour smell or attracting attention. A lot of curses...
Therefore, in the ceramic industry, where mutual hostility is common, the magnanimity reflected in the sentence "I ask my employees not to speak ill of their peers, and employees who speak ill of their peers shall not be retained" is indeed extraordinary, as if a stream of clear water is trickling down. Come on, it's impressive.
Why do colleagues in the ceramic industry like to criticize each other so much? Brother Chan has thought about this issue many times before and believes that the main reason is that the average educational level and professional quality of practitioners in the ceramic industry are lower than that of most industries (although this is frustrating, it is an unmitigated fact). However, When I thought about it more carefully, I felt that it was not entirely the case; until this time at the Guiyang Walking Terminal, Brother Chan was deeply inspired by what a dealer said.
Based on what the dealer said, Brother Chan believes that the main reason why colleagues in the ceramic industry like to criticize each other is: imitation and following the trend are rampant, making it difficult to create unique finished product attributes that are already difficult to homogenize. The phenomenon is becoming increasingly serious. Many companies and brands can only improve themselves by belittling others in order to show off the advantages of their own products that are not outstanding or that are simply fictitious. This kind of mutual disapproval has little to do with character and is closely related to product attributes.
However, as the saying goes, "If you are self-respecting, others will lift others up." On the other hand, no matter what your reasons are for despising and slandering your competitors, the result is that you are degrading others and yourself at the same time.
Without a broad mind, great companies and great brands cannot be born.
2
Many people at the terminal still don’t understand what slate is
“If we just define the products produced from the kiln as slate, I don’t think it makes much sense. After the slate (product) is produced from the kiln, we may be responsible for processing it to a certain extent so that it can be given to the user or the next (use) environment (product), so that it can be defined as rock slab. ”
This is the view expressed by Liu Yijun, Vice President of Mona Lisa, in Taocheng Daily's "Sandboard Lecture Hall".
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To a certain extent, this view of Vice President Liu Yijun actually coincides with a view expressed by Brother Chan a few days ago. In the article "If these two points are not determined as soon as possible, the market order of rock slabs will definitely be destroyed" published on the WeChat official account of China Ceramics Network on September 14 , Brother Chan believes: "Stone slabs are both ceramic tiles and not ceramic tiles. From a production perspective, slate slabs are ceramic tiles; from a processing perspective, they are not ceramic tiles; from an application perspective, they are both ceramic tiles and can be used to pave floors and walls. Ceramic tiles have greater room for development in cross-border applications such as home customization. "In a word, whether rock slabs can ultimately be called rock slabs depends on their application scenarios: if they are just used for laying walls and floors, they cannot be separated. The category of ordinary ceramic tiles or large slabs (large-sized ceramic tiles) is essentially ceramic tiles; only if it can be applied to countertops, desktops, cabinets, etc. across borders, can it truly be called a slate.
There is no final conclusion on the definition of slate at the upstream manufacturer level in the ceramic industry, and dealers and consumers in the end market are even more confused about the difference between large slabs and slate. During the market survey at Guiyang Station, a dealer told Brother Chan that a consumer thought he had understood the difference between large slabs and rock slabs, but ended up buying the large slab as a rock slab at the price of the slab; Brother Chan also saw with his own eyes that a shopping guide in another dealer's store had just finished explaining to consumers what slate was, and then took out his mobile phone to check the information and supplement his knowledge on slate on the spot.
It can be seen that if ceramic companies that produce slate want to sell slate through the traditional channel of dealers, they should make a concerted effort to determine the definition of slate as soon as possible And introduce standards for slate; otherwise, consumer education will become an empty talk, it will definitely be difficult to achieve results.
3
Service is an effective way to reduce product homogeneity
At the Guiyang station market survey "One City, One Activity" sharing and exchange meeting, the question was "As competition becomes increasingly fierce and product homogeneity becomes more and more serious, how much role do you think service can play in sales?" Regarding this issue, the vast majority of dealers attending the meeting believed that service is becoming more and more important in ceramic tile sales.
Among them, Wu Chao, the dealer representative of General Ceramics Guiyang, also cited an example: "Since we promoted the service upgrade, the salespersons have become waiters. If they serve the old customers well, they will promote the referral of old customers. Although the number of customers It has become less, but the total performance has increased.”
Only one dealer expressed a different view. He believed that the product is the most important, and as long as the product is excellent, the service is not necessary.
General Ceramics Guiyang dealer Su Zhonglin
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Which is more important, products or services? Do services exist based on products, or do products rely on services?
If you answer this question from the perspective of separating products and services, it can be said that there is no standard answer. But if the two are organically unified, products cannot be without services, and services cannot be without products. Only when products and services are closely combined can the two swords be invincible.
Chan Ge believes that for ceramic companies and brands, producing high-quality ceramic tiles is an unshirkable responsibility, and exploring new service models and improving service levels is an unavoidable challenge. Only by paying unlimited attention to service on the basis of high-quality products can ceramic companies and brands stand out and win the favor of customers/consumers/users in the adverse situation of overcapacity, consumption upgrades, and product homogeneity.
4
This type of person is enough to ruin a dealer
In August last year, Brother Chan wrote an article titled "Beware! This kind of ceramic salesperson is enough to ruin the article "Dealer". The first paragraph of this article reads: “As for the requirements for ceramic manufacturers, the dealers interviewed most talked about the two major factors of product and brand, that is, the product should have good appearance, good quality, and reasonable price. Competitiveness (market segmentation) and brand must have visibility, reputation, and influence. Almost no one mentioned the factor of manufacturer personnel." Then, Brother Chan vividly told the cases he learned during the Fuzhou Station terminal market research. , emphasizing the importance of manufacturer personnel to dealers.
During the market survey at Guiyang Station, Brother Chan came across a similar case. A dealer has been operating a brand for ten years. The brand's products are not bad, and the brand's influence is not small in the local area. However, as soon as the brand changed its general manager, the dealer resolutely "broke up" with it. ” and joined another brand he was optimistic about.
Why did you break up? Just because the new general manager of the brand has a bureaucratic work style and often asks dealers for money and cards. He even has to pay for his own clothes, which is dozens of coats and dozens of pairs of pants at a time!
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Brother Chan believes that as a dealer in China, a human society, sometimes human factors are more important than products and brands. We are not afraid of not having good brands and good products, but we are afraid of not being able to have good people. If you encounter a particularly bad manufacturer employee, the dealer can only admit that you are unlucky and either stick to the end and get rid of the manufacturer employee, or cut the knot quickly and change brands as soon as possible.
5
Dealers with their own advantages will definitely survive
In the market survey at Guiyang Station, Brother Chan confirmed a philosophical truth - there are no two identical leaves in the world, and there are no two people with complete sales channels in Guiyang. Same dealer. In other words, each dealer has its own characteristics and advantages. Some are good at the designer channel, some are good at the engineering channel, some focus on the decoration company/full decoration company channel, some focus on the retail channel, and some Operating in multiple categories, some people build their own platforms...
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Brother Chan once read an article titled "Most of my business comes from writing articles" written by a decoration company owner. Obviously, this boss who is good at writing articles can also play to his strengths. But don’t all decoration company owners have to write articles to do business? Of course not.
There is no best mode, only the most suitable mode. It doesn’t matter which model you choose. What’s important is to choose according to your own advantages and actual situation. Never follow the trend just because you see what others do and think it’s good.
Author: Zen Can
