Halfway through March, almost a month has passed since the start of work after the Spring Festival. In the Xuemeng Food Factory, Guan Boyong looked at the assistant's recent statistics on the number of orders for each sales office and each business section of the company, and compared it with the data for the same period last year.
After comparison, he found that the sales volume showed an obvious downward trend.
And the decline was more than 15%.
Even if it was because of the Spring Festival when we first started work at the beginning of the year, more than 20 days have passed and sales have still not improved. This has nothing to do with the Spring Festival.
And in addition to offline sales, online sales have also been obviously affected.
Unfortunately, their current advertising budget has not been reduced much.
Guan Boyong also understands what this situation means. Their product market has indeed shrunk.
Now Guan Boyong only hopes that the market will not shrink too seriously. In the current situation, he feels that it is not even better than last year. As long as the sales volume can finally equal last year's sales at the end of the year, it will be considered a great success.
There is no way, special times, special treatment, this is normal.
After reading the summarized report, Guan Boyong thought that he must report the latest situation to his boss.
At this time, Guan Boyong was thinking about the last time his boss came to him alone and asked him what was the difference between the current shipment and the same period in previous years. At that time, he attributed the problem to the Spring Festival that had just passed. What should he say now?
It is obvious that there is a systemic problem, but he has been in the position of sales manager and his acumen is not as good as the boss, which shows that he is not doing his job well.
"You have to talk to your boss as soon as possible." Guan Boyong thought to himself.
I couldn't care about anything else at the moment, and I didn't dare to delay any longer. I took the report and went to Cao Shujie's office.
When he came over, he realized that the boss hadn't come yet. He went to the boss' assistant He Ruijia and asked her: "Assistant He, will the boss come today?"
"Manager Guan, I have to call to confirm." He Ruijia said.
Guan Boyong came to Cao Shujie this time because he really had something urgent. He said, "Ask Assistant He, please call me quickly. I have something urgent."
He Ruijia didn't dare to show off in front of Guan Boyong. She quickly called Cao Shujie, but Cao Shujie didn't get through the first time.
He Ruijia called Guan Boyong, and then made a second call. After Cao Shujie got through, He Ruijia explained the situation here.
After putting down the phone, she told Guan Boyong: "Manager Guan, the boss said he will come over later."
"Okay, I'll wait a little longer. If the boss comes, I have to ask Assistant He to send me a message." Guan Boyong hurried downstairs with the report and went to his office.
He Ruijia looked at Guan Boyong's irritable look. She understood that Guan Boyong was really in a hurry this time, but she couldn't figure out what could make Manager Guan so panicked?
"Could it be that something big happened in the sales department again?" He Ruijia immediately thought of the former purchasing manager Xiang Zhengyan. She figured that the sales department wouldn't have to do it again.
"If this is the case, the boss won't be able to blow it up." He Ruijia said to herself.
Wang Ting, a colleague next to her, asked her: "Ruijia, what are you talking about? I didn't hear it clearly."
"Tingting, it's okay. Just hurry up and get busy. The boss will be here later." He Ruijia said.
When she heard that the boss was coming over, no one dared to chat anymore, so everyone quickly got to work.
Cao Shujie arrived very quickly, and the distance from Caojiazhuang to Qingshi Town was not that far in the first place. In less than 20 minutes, Wang Yueqiang drove him to the company.
Wang Yueqiang thought Cao Shujie would go to his own office, but Cao Shujie did not go. Instead, he came to the sales department office area, knocked directly on the door and entered the office of Guan Boyong, the senior manager of the sales department.
At this time, Guan Boyong looked at the computer screen over and over again, refreshing the computer data.
Cao Shujie pushed the door open and asked him: "Manager Guan, were you looking for me just now?"
When he saw Cao Shujie, Guan Boyong stood up directly and said, "Boss, I have to tell you something."
"What's the matter?" Cao Shujie asked him.
When He Ruijia called him just now, he told him that Guan Boyong was in a hurry, and Cao Shujie also asked Wang Yueqiang to come over as quickly as possible on the way.
Cao Shujie also understood that this matter might not be clear through a simple phone call, otherwise Guan Boyong would have called him directly.
Sure enough, Guan Boyong first handed the report to Cao Shujie, then turned the computer screen to face Cao Shujie: "Boss, this is the last time you came to me and asked me to pay attention to the recent sales data. I just asked the assistant below to summarize the data.
Again, there really is a difference.”
"Is it very different from the same period last year?" Cao Shujie asked him directly.
He understood that if the difference was not big, Guan Boyong would not come to him.
Sure enough, Guan Boyong pointed to the contents of the report and told Cao Shujie that compared with the same period last year, it had dropped by more than 15%.
"Is this difference happening to all customers, or is it happening to large customers or other retail and wholesalers?" Cao Shujie then asked.
Before Guan Boyong could say anything, Cao Shujie asked him another question: "How is online sales now? Has there been any significant decline in sales?"
Guan Boyong nodded, and he told Cao Shujie one by one about the sales decline in several aspects.
Whether it is major supermarket chain customers such as RT-Mart, Wal-Mart, Jiajiayue Supermarket, or retail wholesalers in various regions, sales have declined to varying degrees.
According to Guan Boyong, the decline among large customers is more obvious than the decline in retail and wholesale sales.
Only for online sales, the decline in sales is not very obvious due to frequent promotions. However, Guan Boyong said that Chen Hong also gave him feedback that online sales also showed a clear downward trend compared to the same period.
"So it's all-round, right?" Cao Shujie asked.
Seeing Guan Boyong nodding, Cao Shujie pondered for a while and said to him: "Manager Guan, do you have any ideas?"
"Boss, you are right. The current situation in all aspects is not very good, and it has had a chain reaction. Under this situation, people's willingness to consume is not strong, especially the willingness to consume snack products has dropped rapidly. I think
At present, we should cooperate with major customers or retail and wholesale customers in various regions to carry out preferential activities to speed up the sales of our products." Guan Boyong said.
After saying a lot of things, there is only one key point, which is to lower prices in disguised form through promotional activities to encourage consumers to buy.
Because Guan Boyong also knows that the ultimate victim of direct product price reduction is the company, and the company's profits are reduced, resulting in a passive situation. As a member of the company, they cannot benefit.
Moreover, if the price of a single product is directly reduced, it will be difficult to raise the price later, which will be a fatal blow to the company.
Xuemeng Food Factory is not one of those other food processing companies.
Other companies may unconscionably purchase some substandard or even rotten fruits, but the fruit raw materials purchased by Xuemeng Food Factory from the beginning are of the best quality.
Needless to say, such fruits are much more expensive.
"You can do promotions." Cao Shujie also knew how harmful it would be to their company once a price war started?
He didn't dare to say this easily, but he also told Guan Boyong: "Manager Guan, it would be more reasonable for you to organize people to discuss the price reduction of the product."
"Boss, you must think twice about lowering prices." Guan Boyong advised him.
Cao Shujie also knows the seriousness of this problem, but he also knows that the company must survive in the long run.
This is something Guan Boyong didn't expect.
"Let's do it this way. We'll first unite with customers from all over the country to carry out promotions. If the situation still fails, we will then consider reducing the price of individual products." Cao Shujie concluded.
After coming out of Guan Boyong's office and returning to his own office, He Ruijia saw him coming and told him what happened just now that Manager Guan of the sales department came to see him.
"I know. I just came back from Manager Guan. Xiao He, please notify the department managers and tell them to hold an emergency meeting at 2pm." Cao Shujie said to He Ruijia calmly.
He Ruijia nodded and went out to send the notice.
He Ruijia was also wondering if the boss asking her to send a notice at this time was related to Manager Guan's appointment with the boss?
But because of her position, He Ruijia does know a lot about complicated things, but when it comes to some details, she doesn't know as much as the department managers.
When he came to his office, He Ruijia first sent a group email to all department managers, telling them about the management meeting in the conference room at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
In order to avoid that some managers were not at their posts and could not see the information, He Ruijia called each one again and told them that the boss would convene everyone for a meeting at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
…
Cao Shujie was in the office thinking about what Guan Boyong had just told him. Cao Shujie had already had a premonition about the decline in sales.
In fact, he was already aware of this problem when Cao Shuju first told him that shipments had dropped year-on-year.
I just didn't expect the impact to come so quickly. So far in March, it has fallen by about 15%.
This made Cao Shujie feel as if his illness was coming like a mountain.
too fast.
But Cao Shujie knows that this is just the beginning, and more bad news for the market will come in the future. This year is destined to be uneventful.
As Cao Shujie thought about it, he wrote down the coping strategies he thought of in his notebook, preparing to discuss them with the department managers in the afternoon.
At noon, Cao Shujie went to the elementary school to pick up Mengmeng, and they had a meal together in the company cafeteria.
In the afternoon, when Mengmeng woke up, Cao Shujie arranged for Wang Yueqiang to drive her to school, while Cao Shujie went to the conference room himself.
Seeing him coming, assistant He Ruijia told him that all department managers had arrived.
"Everyone, I have called you here urgently today because we have a very important matter to discuss with you," Cao Shujie said.
Cao Shujie's initial tone made all the department managers present nervous, and they also felt that the atmosphere was different.
But before they could speak, Cao Shujie continued: "Manager Guan, please tell me the situation so that everyone can know first."
Guan Boyong was not polite. He stood up and took the report and shared the key data with all the managers present.
After Guan Boyong finished speaking, everyone including Lian Qijian, Luo Changjin, Xu Cizong, Hu Youcai and others were stunned.
On the contrary, Maintenance Manager Shen Yongjun and Product R&D Manager Tang Jingsong were slower to respond to this matter.
But they all understand what the data Guan Boyong just mentioned mean?
It’s just the beginning of the new year, and the company’s product sales have already dropped by 15%. Will things get better in the future?
Those of you here now all remember what Cao Shujie said at the all-staff company meeting later this year.
"This year has been the worst year in the past 10 years, but it is also the best year in the next 10 years."
When they first heard this sentence before, they were not impressed enough by it, but when Guan Boyong told about the decline in the company's sales data, everyone present had a deeper understanding.
At the same time, they also have a strong sense of crisis.
"Why did the boss call them here today?" Everyone here began to think about this question.
The next moment, Cao Shujie asked them: "Now I ask everyone present to think about it, if the company's sales continue to decline, what should each department do?"
"Everyone has to express his or her own opinion."
After hearing the question asked by Cao Shujie, all the department managers present started thinking in their hearts.
Cao Shujie looked at the sales manager Guan Boyong and said to him: "Manager Guan, this matter is directly related to sales, please talk about it first."
Guan Boyong did not refuse, stood up and expressed his thoughts.
Including product promotions, including some necessary measures taken by the company in response to the market downturn, and even mentioning the price reduction of single products.
After Guan Boyong said these measures, the atmosphere in the conference room became tense.
In fact, everyone present knew not to discuss reducing the unit price of the product easily. They all understood that this was a very serious matter.
But at this time, Manager Guan mentioned price reduction of single products, which also means that this is the last resort.
Shi Jingxiu, senior production manager of the production department, stood up and said: "Boss, Manager Guan, I don't think we are in a hurry to reduce product prices at the moment. We can compare the quality of the company's products with the quality of other brands' products, and focus on promoting the strictness of Xuemeng Food Factory.
production standards and quality control.”
Cao Shujie understood what she meant. He wanted to create differentiation and use Xuemeng Food Factory's products as an industry product standard.
But the problem is that when people in all industries begin to experience varying degrees of income decline, and when more people realize that their lives must involve downgrading consumption, maintaining high prices is a joke.
No one will buy so-called high-quality and high-priced products when they are tightening their belts. Even if it is 1 yuan higher, it may have an impact.
However, Xuemeng Food Factory cannot control the overall cost from the procurement cost, and Cao Shujie will not allow Xuemeng Food Factory to abandon high-quality raw materials and purchase lower-quality raw materials at this time.
This matter is really tricky.
While Cao Shujie and the others were discussing this issue here, over in Quancheng, Wang Qinghui was also holding a meeting, discussing the economic issues of Dongshan Province. (End of Chapter)
