"At its worst, there was only $100,000 left on the books."
Recalling Ausnutria's ups and downs, Manado's founder, who is also Ausnutria's vice-president, recalls Shaw. "The executive ended up taking a million from his family."
This was not expected by the founding team of Ausnutria led by Chen Yuanrong. Before that, Chen Yuanrong was the general manager of Nanshan Milk Powder, one of the most prominent figures in China's milk powder industry. He led a group of young people, including Qu Zhishao, to start a business at the height of the industry's golden decade. Chen was confident enough to raise $10 million in start-up capital.
That's $10 million before China's real estate market took off.
But one year later, in 2004, Ausnutria almost lost all its original principal, and the startup faced its first life-and-death crisis. If the original mode of operation continues, even if another 10 million, also lose ground.
Chen Yuanrong personally point, the most serious losses in the South China market entrusted to take the pen Qu Zhishao.
Qu Zhi Shao is a graduate of the Department of Chinese language and literature, the origin of planning, the head of the Marketing Department of Australia you, making creative advertising is a good hand, a day of sales did not do, now to write to join the military, lead the war, can it?
And guess what?
Upon receiving this task, Qu Zhi Shao was very excited!
On the one hand, he thinks that in his previous job in the Marketing Department, he mostly considered macro-level market problems and lacked practical operation opportunities. However, sales can let him touch the landing links in zero distance, which is of great help to his own ability improvement.
On the other hand, there are practical reasons, sales do well, the salary is much higher than now.
Instead of jumping ship at the prospect of a failing startup, Quzhizhi Shaw felt more excited about "improving his abilities" and "raising his salary" -- the thought of raising his salary at a failing company would be, in today's terms, bizarre
First trial large package system
Eager to try Qu Zhi Shao to the market line.
When Ausnutria was founded, it used the famous "terminal interception" tactic, which was also used successfully by Chen Yuanrong's team in Nanshan period. At that time, the main channel of milk powder sales was the supermarket, and Ausnutria directly assigned promoters to distributors. At most, there were seven or eight hundred promoters paid by Ausnutria.
In this model, the market and channel costs are paid by the manufacturer. This play method is suitable for Nanshan, because Nanshan after years of accumulation, is a well-known brand. However, Ausnutria is a new brand. If there is no aerial bombardment of advertising and basic brand trust is not established, it is difficult to exceed the volume in the short term, leading to the dilemma of "light fertilization, no grain production".
After moving to the South China market, Mr. Qu quickly realized that Nanshan's big-company channel model was not suitable for start-ups with limited financial strength and brand influence. So he began to try a new channel operation mode - the big package system.
Another name of the large package system is the operation of the floor price: Auspremium delivers the goods to the distributor at the floor price, and the distributor bears the regional market promotion costs, channel costs, promoters' costs and customer service costs that the manufacturer was previously responsible for, and does not return the goods.
This mode has relieved the heavy cost burden for AusUber, and transferred to the local dealers to master flexibly, mobilizing the enthusiasm of dealers. The dealer is familiar with the purchasing manager of the supermarket. If Autria enters the supermarket through him, the other party may save 50,000 yuan from the original 100,000 yuan admission fee.
And that savings of $50,000 is going to be the dealer's profit.
High profit space fully mobilize the enthusiasm of dealers, "30 points, at that time the industry's highest, no one gave so high." They immediately upgraded Ausnutria to the main brand and invested a lot of funds and customer resources to increase the sales volume of Ausnutria.
Soon, Qu ZhiShao South China region to do 5 regions first, Shenzhen market also broke the 100 million mark.
In 2007, the whole Ausnutria Group began to implement the large contract mode, and Ausnutria stepped into the fast lane of development and went straight to the market.
Unwilling to be lonely
One of our stereotypes about entrepreneurs is that when the sky is going to entrust a great responsibility to a great person, he or she must first strain his or her mind, strain his or her body, starve his or her body, and do whatever he or she does... Many entrepreneurs are like this.
I am sorry, this does not hold true for Qu Zhi Shao.
Qu Zhi Shao did not eat what bitter when he was young, he was born in a county in the south of Hunan Province, the family conditions are relatively well off, his father is a county government official, and even his brother and sister-in-law and wife are now in the system, the whole family alone he does not love stable love adventure.
"I don't want to stay in a small town and grow old. The outside world is too wonderful." "I believe that material things should not be the sole pursuit of life, but the realization of the value of life."
Therefore, no matter giving up the iron rice job in the government to take the postgraduate entrance exam, or co-creating Ausnutria, or taking roots in the front line of sales, or later starting a second business in Menador, these actions in other people's eyes are tantamount to "self-abuse", but he enjoyed it.
In his wandering days, Qu Zhi Shao was often pronounced wrong. No wonder, Qu Zhi Shao this name a look on the ancient meaning of Anran, with rare words. "Qu" is a descendant of Qu Yuan, "Zhi" is a genealogy indicating seniority, and "shao" is special. Even his university professors used Shao as x (I) n.
At that time, the word "Shaw" had not yet been included in the Xinhua Dictionary. The venerable father sought out the word's etymology, and chose it for the simple purpose of breaking it apart: "Force is to be applied to the edge of the knife" -- he hoped his son would correct the force and the problem would be solved.
Qu zhi Shao's father did not expect this sentence to become a true portrayal of Qu Zhi Shao's career.
While in Australasian's Marketing Department, Mr. Shaw has been an adviser to many leading business plans, such as marketing for stores around hospitals, and he has been instrumental in the company's turnaround efforts.
After stepping into the workplace, Qu Zhi Shao's young mind has been released to the maximum. In 2001, he started to work in the Marketing Department of Nanshan Dairy. In just two years, he became the director of the Marketing Department from an ordinary employee. He followed Chen Yuanrong and founded Ausnutria Dairy with Yan Weibin and others in 2003, when he was 26, and built its marketing division from scratch. At the beginning of 2005, at the age of 27, he was appointed at the time of crisis and made his way in the South China market. Ausnutria came to the rescue and was listed successfully. Qu Zhishao became general manager of Ausnutria Group's marketing division in 2009, when he was only 32.
From the perspective of ordinary people, people like Qu zhi Shao are genetically "deficient" -- they lack the genes for weakness, fear, quietly licking wounds in a corner. The more hardship, the more inspired fighting spirit; The more precipice, the more forward facing the difficulties.
A sharp knife breaks the game
After listing for a period of time, Ausnutria encountered the old channel difficulties: excessive pressure led to the price system out of order.
As all the old guns of dry sales know, excessive pressure on goods without the relief of terminal moving sales, dealers are forced by the double pressure of sales tasks and inventory funds, either through goods or by price. If not stopped in time, channel dealers will actively and passively fall into the "big escape" mode of price delivery, trampling on each other, and in a short time, products and brands will be abandoned by the market and channels.
At that time, seven of Austrault's top ten dealers were gone, and 6-70% of provincial and regional managers were gone. The salary of management was reduced from hundreds of thousands to less than 2,000 yuan a month, which made partners and employees nervous.
In November 2009, Mr. Qu was put in charge of national sales, starting the price battle.
It's a tough fight, there's no skill to follow, it's up to you to carry it.
The Shaw has this courage. Game breaker should be some of the bandit, if tied hands, how can break the game out? Young Qu Zhi Shao often road to see injustice a roar, picked up a stick to fight injustice. "You don't think I'm small, but I can hit."
As it turned out, Shaw withstood the pressure and Ausnutria was able to shrug off its troubles and return to sustained growth. "When I went public and managed national sales, that was probably the most stressful time I've ever had. I survived that, and now it's really nothing to look at anything else."
At this point, Qu Zhi Shao also completes the transformation of each individual's role: his vision from macro to micro, from the brushstrokes to the horse to battle, both civil and military have been perfected, the mind has been honed and become more stable. By the time Aoyou's new brand Manado arrives, Shao is not the Shao he once was.
Game-breaking strategy
After years of rapid growth, Ausnutria's original single brand model has hit the ceiling, and the company's main brand capacity is mostly weak growth.
Aoyou Group integrated Qu Zhi Shao et al. 's practical experience in the first line of the market and the judgment of the industry development trend, put forward the "multi-brand, multi-division and a variety of models" development proposals, today's Aoyou Group's ability to many, Manado, 1897, best beite several major forces in tandem with the pattern, is then laid.
This decision, Ausnutria Group so far the most important strategic level break. The previous innovation of large contract system, only at the channel level and strategy level, has been unable to provide further impetus for Ausnutria's ability, and even has to be replaced by a new channel innovation -- membership system. The senior management team, including Shaw, had realized that tactical and strategic innovation could only solve a city-by-city problem, not Ausnutria's position in the future competitive landscape, at a time when more and more investors were jumping into the milk powder business, recognizing its value. A strategic dilemma requires a strategic solution.
"Multi-brand, multi-division and multi-mode" strategy, besides, to solve the problem of cutting market pattern; It solved the problem of backbone power fatigue, and broke through the strategic deadlock of many years after Ausnutria's listing.
The game-breaking strategy is set, and the next step is to execute efficiently. Ausnutria's executive team is divided, and a vice president at Ausnutria named Shaw as the specific operator of the Manado brand.
Qu Zhishao personally down to Liuyang, Hengdong county and other places to do market research, at the same time carefully studied the rival brand, gave the development vision and path of Minado:
First, the third and fourth tier markets are the territory of domestic milk powder. Ausnutria, as an international brand, is more than able to compete with domestic brands here, while Mead Johnson, Frieslandcampina and other foreign big brands are unable to penetrate here, so there is a chance to take the lead in seizing the third and fourth tier markets.
Second, the maternal and child system is emerging rapidly. The whole market is too big, while Ausnutria is too small to support each other.
Thirdly, in terms of operation mode, the new mode of "sales + brand" can quickly open the situation of the third and fourth markets.
Manado, and that was born. The English name of Menado is puredo, meaning "pure things", and the Chinese name is transliterated from the English name.
You can't make bricks without straw, the Menadol plate is an exception. At that time, in order not to interfere with the development of the sister division, the more capable, Qu Zhi Shao gave several old subordinates a death order: not to use a more capable dealer and salesman. So, apart from sharing the factory and research and development resources, Menador started from nothing and didn't even have the capital to get started.
In June 2012, the first business fair of Minado was held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, Qu Zhishao with packaging design drawing on the battlefield, a business fair down, the site received from the customer to call over 3.3 million payment, that month received more than 7 million payment, the problem of production funds suddenly solved.
On the one hand, of course, because of Ausnutria's brand power; The other is because of the strength of Qu Zhi Shao and his team. Trust is the starting point of business cooperation. The reputation of market operation over the years is there. Everyone trusts this team. It is against this backdrop that Qu Zhishao led Manado to complete the national market layout in just half a year in 2012.
But an uphill battle awaits.
Manado also started with a big package model, which Shaw knows has evolved into a margin race in the low-line market, where whoever has the highest margin wins. Although it is the best choice for a small and medium-sized brand to open the market quickly, it is not conducive to the long-term development of the brand, and Manado is to play a protracted war in the brand, the transformation is imperative.
After the completion of the national market layout, Menador began to transition from a large package model to a member management model. To increase the profit margin, recoup the cost, to get people to do the service, to get on the system, to get your hands on the C end. In 2014, Mr. Shaw set out to build Manado's exclusive marketing team, a very different one.
In the past, the business team only served dealers and stores, but the Manado team not only did marketing, service stores, but also directly communicate with consumers, can be said to be the B and C end of both. Qu Zhishao has moved the method of expanding the market of the four big fans in first-tier cities to the lower-tier market, where sales do not stop at buying, but more reflected in the follow-up services.
It is in this way of thinking, Menador successfully out of a service force to break through the road.
Whether it is the establishment of the B-end Golden Wings store community and C-end Golden Butterfly maternal and infant community, the joint promotion of the online Golden Butterfly star class explosion, the offline growth class and other activities, the close interaction with more than 600,000 mothers, and the knowledge output of the maternal and infant system through the "Mena · each" channel training, Menador has put its own resources and energy, Are placed in the service channel business, direct control of consumers.
In 2017, Manado created a "Revitalizing Season" themed marketing campaign, which attracted 130,000 participants; On this basis, Manado adhering to the concept of "channel enabling", jointly launched the activity of "Dynamic Baby Paradise" with Golden Eagle Cartoon TV, which is customized for partners, produces high-quality content, and builds the brand together with partners. In three months, more than 500 events were held nationwide, involving more than 30,000 families.
The promotion of service also directly led to the sales of Menadol. Menador has maintained a rapid growth of more than 60% for three consecutive years, and its volume has reached 500 million. In the past year of 2017, Menador sales collection, transfer of goods are up significantly, the development momentum is very good.
Manado Rhapsody
In recent years, all the sub-brands of Ausnutria have maintained a good growth trend, but the target of Ausnutria is to achieve 30 billion, and the maximum of infant milk powder is 10 billion, where is enough? Ausnutria began to seek diversification, to expand into liquid milk, nutrition products, services and other areas. In this, Manado plays an important role.
In 2016, in response to the requirements of the development strategy of Aoyou Group, Manado changed from the former divisional mode to the independent operation of the subsidiary mode, the company name is very special: Manado Health Service (Changsha) Co., LTD.
It makes sense for a dairy company that sells milk powder to expand into "wellness" products, and for its peers to shift to wellness around housewives, but "service" is more puzzling.
"After independence, Manado will explore more areas and establish a service-oriented and technology-driven company, which is the new requirement of The Times for us." "Said Qu Zhi Shao.
At the end of 2017, Menador first put forward the strategic goal of transforming from a milk powder brand to an Internet platform.
A milk powder company to say this sentence, peers said do not understand.
If you don't understand it. Because such a proposal, in the industry is the first.
In the future, he believes, there will be a giant platform for mothers and babies, like Meituan and Didi, which connect all the maternity shops and service points so that a mother can search for nearby maternity shops, maternity clubs and baby swimming pools at the stroke of her finger. There is also a rating system similar to Meituan's, where mothers can see the rating information of each store.
In the past two years, the most successful companies in the Internet field have been platform companies. Not to mention Taobao, Tmall and JD.com, Meituan and Ele. me for food ordering, Didi and Ctrip for travel...
In addition to products, there are also various services in the maternal and infant industry. The service industry involves a large number of human resources, which is the most difficult to standardize management. As a result, the maternal and infant services are full of various small and medium-sized enterprises, which is a typical long-tail market and most suitable for Internet platforms.
In Menador's vision, there are three steps to becoming a platform giant:
The first step is to become the milk powder brand with the most service ability in 2019. We will cooperate with distributors to create a service system connecting users.
The second step is to become a maternal and child service platform trusted by both end B and end C in 2020.
The third step is to become the most trusted ecological platform in 2026, connecting children's clubs, kindergartens, medical businesses, etc., and digging deeply into intelligent, financial and customized products.
"What we need to do is paint the picture first and create it step by step, rather than obsessing about what the end is. A good life today does not mean a good life tomorrow, and vice versa. If everyone comes, it means we're on the right track." "Said Qu Zhi Shao. Manado's quick start up was based on trust, and today is no different. The hardest part of business, according to Shaw, is building trust: "Products can be replicated, services can be replicated, but trust cannot be replicated."
In 2018, with the implementation of the "three-step strategy", Menado launched the "KIWI Business School", and the first event is well underway. Through KIWI Business School, he hopes to bring together truly like-minded friends to build the future of Manado.
Passion never dies
The bookcase behind his desk is laden with books.
A complete set of twenty-four histories, given to him on his birthday by the venerable Madame, occupied the center row. "She knows I love them," said Shaw.
Down the row were some of his most recent books, mostly about the Internet, with a copy of "Trump 101: How to Turn Your Startup into a Money-Making Machine" at the top. "I bought this book about ten years ago, and I just thought it was great," he said. Who would have thought he would be president today?" "Said Qu Zhi Shao.
With a job that leaves little time for other pursuits, reading has become Qu's favorite hobby. The point is that he does it himself, forces his fellow students to read, and even gives books to them.
He not only bought his own house, but also asked his friends to buy it. By the time Mr. Qu Shaw became a regional manager in southern China in 2005, most of his friends had already bought houses. In order to "force" his friends to buy a house as early as possible, he also made a special rule against playing mahjong. This is not a leader, it is a "parent".
Some people say that he "temper", of course, also did not forget to their own leaders to solve the problem: at that time he was in charge of the national sales, the pressure is too great.
One person said that following him "always felt inadequate, so it was very stressful." But then he said, "This is positive energy. I'm learning every day."
The Shaw said of himself a man who tolerated trial and error. A score of 60 would suffice, and a friend would immediately challenge him: "He is clearly a perfectionist. If he scores 60, it must be nothing."
Mr. Shaw admits he used to be a bit of a bully because he valued efficiency more in his early days, but now he is trying to change himself and delegate power.
At this point, we look back and say that for Shaw, at different points in his career, he had to break different games.
Do regional manager, to break the sales model of the bureau; Management of national sales, to break is the channel disease bureau; Ausudo brand development, to break the group's development ceiling; To transform the service platform, the business model of the whole industry should be broken.
"It would have been impossible to say that I believed in all of his vision from the beginning, but I saw a lot of change. Qu Zong once asserted that the competition of brands in the future must be the competition of service, and the feedback I got from the market was indeed true. Store owners and distributors told me that this was what they wanted. Manado wants to be a platform. In 2018, our platform also landed. This blueprint is being realized step by step." "Said one team member.
Of course, there will be disputes and doubts. This is actually a time difference between innovative thinking and realistic implementation. The game breaker must look to the future and to the present, while the performer must look to the present and care more about costs and current returns. However, noisy noisy, under the class, wine according to drink, song according to sing, each other's friendship forever frozen in the Lijiang bar together drunk singing "the sea and the sky" happy time.
Shaw did not deny that his wife had said more than once that he was a "workaholic" who thought only of work all day long. Indeed, did not the venerable Madame enjoy the unending passion in him? Qu Zhi Shao and his wife have been in love for 8 years, walked into the hall of marriage, and have two lovely daughters. When he's not working, he must be around the kids.
Everyone around him knew that Qu Zhishao had always had a dream: to take a trip along the Sichuan-Tibet Line. "Always dreaming, never coming true." Qu Zhi Shao has some helplessness. He rescheduled that for 45, "when the kids are older, take my wife and the kids with me." "Said Qu Zhi Shao.
This dream may be a little difficult, because his kind of innate "passion", always let him long for a bigger world. It was the passion that launched his wonderful career, the passion that made him happy in the face of difficulties, the passion that described a new era for Menardo, and the passion that secretly inspired his friends to run forward.
Now that's a born game breaker!
