Two survival strategies for agricultural machinery enterprises to cross the market slowdown cycle
How to overcome the slow development cycle of the market? Every enterprise has its own circumstances and methods, but in the face of constant change, there are two key strategies that must be fully implemented.
Strategy 1: Conduct a quality revolution.
Why is it called a 'quality revolution' instead of a 'quality revolution'?
Before making this clear, let's introduce an American quality expert named Crosby, who studied medicine. In the early 20th century, because it was not easy to find a job, he worked as a quality inspector in a factory. He, who is engaged in quality inspection work, found this position very boring because the most important concept in medicine is prevention. There is a saying in China that goes, 'If you seek medical treatment, you won't get sick.' Simply put, it means that if you get sick, you need to seek medical treatment again. The top doctors will tell you how to avoid getting sick. And Crosby thought, 'My job is just checking things all day long, and it only turns into quality inspection when there are problems. Why can't we prevent it?'? He talked about this concept with the CEO, but the CEO didn't listen, so he left the company.
Later, Crosby adopted the concept of prevention and entered another company, a globally leading military enterprise. As is well known, military industry is a demand driven by fear, and poor quality can lead to death. This military enterprise is very interested in Crosby's concept of "quality management emphasizes prevention" and hires him to manage quality. After accumulating experience, Crosby developed a set of methods and wrote a book called "Quality for Free". Crosby also became a renowned quality expert in the United States.
Klaus defined what quality is. He said that quality is not good, not high-end, not luxurious, not strange, not fashionable, not fashionable. Quality is just meeting the requirements. This ordinary sentence has become a major proposition in econometrics. Klaus Bi emphasized, "Do things right from the beginning!" In his book, he said, "Do things right from the beginning, achieve zero defects, and if you do it this way, you don't pay for quality, only pay for quality problems.
Next, let's take a look at what quality is?
Fundamentally, quality is what we see from the manufacturer's perspective, and quality is what allows users to feel it. No matter how well you do it but the users don't feel it, at most it's called quality. What our producers produce is for others to use. The word "product" is three words. Customers' mouth, users' mouth and the public's mouth. Whether our products can withstand speaking and roast is crucial. So quality doesn't necessarily have to be defined and required by me, it must be concluded with the user at the center. We manufacture things for users and earn income from them, so we need to study what users really need.
The so-called 'quality revolution' is to make the products we manufacture win the recognition of users, and what users say is really good!
The agricultural machinery industry in our country has gone through a "golden decade" of rapid and extraordinary development since 2004, and is currently undergoing an upgrading and transformation stage since 2015. After the demand for agricultural mechanization reaches a certain level, new and higher demands are emerging, just like how we used to "eat enough" and now we need to "eat well". The agricultural machinery industry is shifting from scale growth to high-quality growth. In order for agricultural machinery enterprises to survive, they must undergo a "quality revolution". This is a big test that all agricultural machinery workers face, and it is an unavoidable test.
To carry out a "quality revolution", agricultural machinery enterprises must innovate themselves, manufacture better and superior agricultural machinery products, and win the recognition of users. How to do it? There are four key points for everyone to discuss.
Firstly, surpass the opponent and confront the real pain points of the user.
We always talk about innovation, and the most crucial aspect is to solve user pain points through technological and product innovation. We cannot only focus on our competitors, but rather on understanding user needs, creating products that are adaptable and unique, and able to meet user needs. As long as they have uniqueness, they have bargaining power and pricing power, in order to surpass our competitors and win the favor and purchase of users.
Secondly, strictly control product quality and do things right at once.
For any agricultural machinery enterprise, without quality management, everything is impossible to talk about. From the technical design of agricultural machinery products, parts procurement, component processing, manufacturing processes, complete machine assembly, experimental verification, debugging optimization, etc., it is necessary to carry out full process, full process, and full process quality control. We must be meticulous and practical in doing our products well, and we must do everything right at once, make every effort to reduce rework and rectification, and ensure that the product quality is excellent.
Thirdly, honor the "most discerning customer" as a guest of honor.
We need to listen to the opinions and suggestions of users, especially old users, users with hands-on ability and high technical level. Their opinions and suggestions come from daily use and practical work. Good customers have high requirements for products, and many of us enterprises often cannot listen to them. However, once accepted, it is difficult at the beginning, but after this hurdle is overcome, the overall level of the company will improve.
Fourth, adhere to quality premium.
Price competition is a common form of competition in the agricultural machinery market, and once one participates in price competition, the repeated tug of war between cost and profit is inevitable. However, in reality, any form of strategy that sacrifices quality to reduce costs is not advisable and will not last long. Agricultural machinery enterprises must stay away from vicious price competition. If they encounter a trend of price cutting, they must withdraw and not be obsessed with this market. When absolutely necessary, we must also insist on giving up on price over quality, and of course, we cannot give up on price casually.
Continuously carrying out a quality revolution and building the domestic agricultural machinery industry into a "quality highland", all agricultural machinery workers have a long way to go.
Strategy 2: Build new marketing capabilities.
Marketing occupies an important position and plays an essential role at any time and in any industry. In business operations, products and marketing determine success or failure.
Since entering a new development cycle, the growth rate of income and profit levels in the agricultural machinery industry has continued to slow down, and all agricultural machinery enterprises are facing severe tests of survival and development. In the "jianghu" of market competition, there has always been a "life and death" competition, and all links in the industrial value chain are seeking effective development paths in the process of transformation.
The downward trend of market operation highlights the role of marketing. How to do marketing well? In fact, there is no fixed number. Marketing tactics are not always fixed, and they will change with factors such as social progress, people's consumption habits, and specific needs in different periods, giving rise to new marketing models. However, no matter how marketing methods change, one thing remains unchanged, which is centered around meeting user needs. Whoever seizes the key point of user demand first and acts quickly, seizes the market opportunity and reserves advantages for winning the market.
The agricultural machinery industry never lacks excellent marketing cases.
For example, Lovol and Gushen Wheat Machinery have maintained a market share of over 65% for more than 20 consecutive years, maintaining the first place in the industry. This is due to their excellent marketing model of "from product competition to service competition" that they pioneered in the industry. Specifically, in response to concentrated operation seasons such as the "Three Summers", Lovol pioneered a tripartite collaboration and shared service model of "enterprise, dealer, and supplier", breaking the industry inertia of "manufacturers only producing, suppliers only supplying parts, and dealers only selling goods". They led the formation of cross regional operation service teams, dispatched service vehicles, parts vehicles, and maintenance technicians to the fields during peak seasons, and responded 24/7. Lovol's service commitment is to ensure that the wheat harvest season is "no overnight downtime, no major malfunctions", and to establish a three-level network of service outlets, mobile service stations, and parts warehouses nationwide, covering cross regional operation routes and supporting agricultural machinery service apps to achieve one click appointment maintenance, operation data monitoring, and parts query, maximizing the solution to users' worries, quickly seizing the cross regional operation market, and achieving dual improvement of brand reputation and market share.
For example, the core components of Changfa Jialian harvester are guaranteed for life in marketing strategies, as well as measures such as two-year and three-year warranties, which have won the attention of many users in traditional market competition.
For example, Dima has adopted a marketing strategy of selling out of season. As soon as the autumn harvest season ends, it has launched a large-scale promotion strategy of "trade in" for its corn harvester products targeting old users, almost locking in potential users one year in advance and seizing market share, with significant results.
The agricultural machinery industry has entered a period of slow operation with quality upgrading as the theme, which is essentially the elimination period of the "extensive growth model". When the competition space for products, technology, and prices is compressed, marketing innovation is no longer an "auxiliary means", but a "core competitiveness" that determines the life and death of enterprises. It can be seen that only by understanding market demand and restructuring marketing logic can we grow against the trend in the cold winter of the industry.
Therefore, all agricultural machinery enterprises must at least do the following key points in the marketing process:
Firstly, winning the competition is based on the product.
Secondly, being half a step ahead of others, one move ahead.
Quick action is like grabbing time, even if it's half a step ahead of others. Only with quick action can we possibly grab it. The saying 'the first move is the strongest' is based on this principle. Marketing emphasizes speed, 'one trick, eat all over the world', 'follow others' behind' marketing, cannot win the market. For example, in the past few years, companies that exported products to the Russian market were full of resources, and in the past two years, the opportunities for companies that followed suit have become slim.
Thirdly, fulfilling commitments beyond expectations.
No matter how clever or innovative your marketing tactics are, the integrity principle of meeting user needs and fulfilling promises without discounts cannot be changed. Everyone is not a fool, and deep down in their hearts, they have a scale that they will often take out to weigh. In the agricultural machinery market marketing, especially in today's era where stock updates dominate and old user consumption dominates, business operators must be honest and genuine, exchanging sincerity for sincerity in order to achieve long-term success.
Fourth, prioritize service and meet needs.
No matter how intelligent or technologically advanced agricultural machinery products are, the service aspect is always essential. Good agricultural machinery marketing and service are crucial. Good service plays an effective role in promoting sales, while poor service will ruin the subsequent market. Providing attentive service, conducting regular follow-up visits and training, fully ensuring the normal use of products after purchase, and helping users make money will always be an important part of agricultural machinery marketing.
Marketing relies on dedication, and success or failure depends on human intervention. Online and offline interactions, new media marketing, overseas market expansion, and second-hand phone exchanges are all ways that agricultural machinery enterprises must and must pay attention to, and are worthy of deep thinking and courageous practice.
