When Sister Lan lectures in enterprises, she often hears salespeople complain about the company's high pricing and lack of sales resources. But you also have to think about it the other way around: if the salesperson can't afford to sell premium products and requires all sales resources to be provided by the company, then what is your value?Can it be replaced in minutes?The purpose of running a business is not to pursue sales, but to make profits. Therefore, you must understand that marketing management, like fighting a war, must be carefully calculated economic accounts.
Sun Tzu's Art of War talks at the beginning of the [Combat Chapter]: "Where the art of war is used, gallop thousands of cars, leather carts and thousands of rides, bring 100,000 armor, and feed grain for thousands of miles." Then the internal and external expenses, the use of guests, the material of glue paint, the dedication of the car armor, the daily cost of thousands of gold, and then 100,000 teachers. ”
The expression "galloping a thousand horses" reflects an important tactical configuration in ancient warfare. Here, "galloping" refers to a light chariot, while "驷" refers to a vehicle pulled by four horses. In Sun Tzu's time, the usefulness of cavalry was limited by the fact that horse shoeing had not yet been introduced, so warfare in the Central Plains mainly relied on chariots. According to the Sima Fa, an ancient military text, a chariot is usually accompanied by three armoured warriors, followed by seventy-two infantrymen. Thus, the number of a tactical phalanx consisting of chariots and infantry reached seventy-five people. The "land of a thousand vehicles" that we often read about in ancient books actually refers to a country with a thousand chariots, and its military strength is roughly equivalent to an army of 75,000 men.
The concept of "leather carts and thousands of rides" involves the logistics support system of the ancient army. "Leather cart" refers to a baggage cart used to transport grain, grass, war equipment, cooking utensils, clothing and other materials. According to the Sima Law, a leather cart needed to be equipped with ten cooks, five custodians, five grooms, and five soldiers responsible for cutting wood and water, for a total of 25 people. As a result, 1,000 leather carts can carry 25,000 logisticians.
In this way, the total strength of the "Thousand Rides Carriage" and the "Thousand Rides Leather Carriage" is a huge army of 100,000 people.
In addition to the above-mentioned materials for people and horses, the problem of long-distance transportation of grain and grass must also be taken into account. This means crossing thousands of miles to secure supplies. At the same time, the expenses of the front and rear, the expenses for entertaining envoys and lobbyists, the consumption of combat equipment, and the maintenance of vehicles and ** are all expenses that cannot be ignored. These expenses add up to a huge amount every day, and only after bearing these huge expenses can the army of 100,000 set off smoothly.
Someone once calculated the expenses of Germany and the Soviet Union during the Second World War: Germany's war expenditure in 1939 was 45 billion marks, and then it began to increase year by year, and by 1943 this amount had reached 109 billion marks. The share of war expenditures in GDP increased from 34 in 19398% rose to 72 in 19436%, a total of 386 billion marks were invested. Looking at the Soviet Union, the consumption is also huge, from 1939 to 1945 in the six years, the Soviet Union's military spending is also rising, a total of 685.5 billion rubles have been invested.
Although Su Wuzi is a "soldier saint" through the ages, he actually doesn't like to fight. He believed that "stopping hostilities should be used as force" and advocated "prudent warfare." This not only reflects his compassion for cherishing the people's livelihood, but also has to be calculated because of the economic account.
Now I understand why Sun Tzu advocated "not to move, not to use, not to fight" (meaning that war can only be considered if it is in the interests of the country, when it is really necessary, and when it is in a critical situation), "a soldier who surrenders without a fight"?Mr. Sun hopes to use methods other than war (such as strategy, diplomacy, etc.) to solve problems as much as possible, and avoid direct military conflicts to the greatest extent.
In enterprise marketing management, economic accounts are also the top priority. For example:
Marketing expenses: This usually includes advertising expenses, PR campaign expenses, market research expenses, etc. Businesses need to make trade-offs between various promotion methods and choose the one that will produce the most results.
Sales expenses: including sales staff salaries, sales commissions, sales meetings and training costs, etc. In addition, the cost of the sales channel, such as the cost of using a merchant or distributor, needs to be taken into account.
Personnel costs: In addition to salespeople, marketing teams include market researchers, advertising creatives, marketing planners, and more, and their salaries and benefits are also a significant expense.
Time cost: Marketing campaigns tend to take a certain amount of time to plan and execute, and some strategies may take a long time to see results. As a result, businesses need to make trade-offs between the time investment and expected return on marketing campaigns.
Other resources: This may include materials and equipment for marketing activities, office space rental, travel and transportation costs, etc. The use and consumption of these resources also need to be factored into marketing costs.
When calculating these economic accounts, companies need to fully consider their marketing strategies and goals, as well as changes in the market environment. At the same time, effective budget management and cost control are also key to ensuring a return on marketing investment. By regularly auditing and evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, businesses can adjust their strategies in a timely manner to ensure the efficient use of resources.
In the next article, we will combine "The Art of War" to talk about how salespeople can get more resources