Change is coming, do you choose to catch up, or turn around and lead?

Oral / Liu Run Lead Writer / Jingxian

This is the 1448th original article of Liu Run's public account

External changes are changing rapidly.

Consumers' attention is getting shorter and shorter, and they like oat milk today and raw coconuts tomorrow. Left alone to sway in the wind.

Raw material prices, up. Yesterday's electricity price was still 1 yuan 1 degree, and today it has risen to 1 yuan 5. Left alone I shivered.

Influencer brands, bustling. Yesterday in line in the boutique coffee shop, today it turned into a retro restaurant. Leave me alone and wander repeatedly.

The torrent of changing times pushes people away. Everyone gathered into a torrent. As the tide rises, it roars.

Should I be a small step to follow?

Or striding around the crowds?

The former, if you are not careful, may be dropped and washed away by the tide.

The latter, if you are not careful, may step into the air and directly fall to the bone. What to do?

Today we come to talk about, the change is coming, how to choose?

(This article is shared from the daily sharing of the Evolution Island community)

—1—

How to choose? First, see the nature of change.

Some time ago, a classmate on Evolution Island asked a question,

Together with his family, he runs a coal mining refining business. The power supply in the area where the factory is located is responsible for a private enterprise.

However, recently in the winter, the temperature is low, and the price of electricity has suddenly proposed to rise, from the original one degree of one yuan to one degree of one piece of five, or even one piece of eight.

The price of electricity is too high, but the coal mine cannot increase the price, and if it continues to start construction, it is likely to lose money. What am I going to do?

When the change comes, the posture is set up, the troops are lined up, and the strict line is waiting.

Don't worry.

First see its essence. Is it a fluctuation, or a cycle, a trend, or an accident?

If it is a fluctuation.

It is random. It is also short-term.

Then you have to make a prediction of the annual electricity price.

Which quarter is the electricity price low? Which quarter was particularly high? See if this volatility is acceptable to you.

For example, it has risen to 2 yuan once, I can't accept it, and I have to stop work.

Then, you have to sign a contract with the customer in advance, if the electricity price reaches 2 yuan and defaults, how to define the liability.

Control the risks brought about by fluctuations within a reasonable range.

If it is a cycle.

It is reciprocating. It is also long-term.

Like you said, prices go up every winter and fall in the summer. It's a rule.

We can plan the production of the whole year according to the cycle, and take a little more order in the summer, which can be cheaper per unit. In the winter, the order should be mentioned at a price.

Hedge cycles with planning.

If it is a trend.

It is one-way.

Suppose that the price of electricity will rise in the future and will not turn back.

Maybe you should consider whether this business is still going to do it? If you want to continue, how should you balance the cost?

The only way is to improve your own efficiency, increase the product premium, and hedge the rise of raw materials.

If it is accidental.

Of course, if it is really the power plant for profits.

You can resolve the issue by reporting it to the relevant authorities.

The change is coming, how to cope?

First, it's clear whether it's a fluctuation, a cycle, a trend, or an accident.

Think again about countermeasures.

—2—

Adapt, or change?

Seeing the changes, let's take a look at what countermeasures are available.

Today I'm talking to you about two very different strategies.

It's interesting.

The first is to adapt to change and change yourself. Pay close attention to market research, upgrade production lines, and improve products.

The second is to find advantages from yourself, find ways to change the environment, and form a competitive advantage.

The former is called the Bridge Strategy.

Build a bridge to connect the outside world and me.

The latter is called the Buffering Strategy.

Change the outside world and protect yourself from outside interference.

The former is to comply, to adapt. The latter is shaping, changing.

Let's look at the former first.

How to adapt? Find a reference item.

For example, "voting with your feet" is the simplest and straightforward term of reference.

Many times, consumers are able to clearly express their needs.

Therefore, as long as you conduct in-depth research on consumer needs, provide differentiated products or services for a clearly defined market segment, you can achieve success.

That is, build a bridge with customers.

What structure is used?

Accurately translate consumer demand. Make them profitable.

Evolution Island has a classmate ask a question,

They did the renovation of university libraries. Mainly for the Z0 generation, to solve their needs for space environment upgrades.

However, when communicating with the school, the design plan is difficult to land, what should I do?

First, you should define a concept, who exactly are your customers?

Generation Z0 students, are users.

The school is your client.

Users, the needs of students may be a little easier to use the library, a little better looking.

These needs affect the decisions of customers, schools.

However, it is not the only influencing factor. There are also many factors such as project cost, project cycle, overall construction of the school, and many other factors.

What should you do?

Find ways to make schools profitable.

Ask yourself a few more questions,

Can it help the school improve its overall appearance?

Can it improve the teaching and research capabilities of the school?

Can it help schools become more popular colleges and universities?

……

Grasp the needs of consumers and build a solid bridge across the sea for consumers. to help you succeed.

However, however, in addition to building bridges.

Have you ever thought about creating a wave yourself?

That is, the buffering strategy.

Get up, change, lead.

—3—

How to lead?

There is a class of companies that influence consumers, influence competitors, and even the industry as a whole. They are disruptors of the industry and hold the pulse of the industry's development.

They are the market-driven enterprises.

Take Apple, for example.

Jobs said,

Apple never does market research, but the products it produces are great products.

So, we saw the first iPhone that came out in 2007.

For the first time, I had a mobile phone that could go online and listen to music. And it has only one home button.

It really changed the world.

How? Is it talent? Of course not.

Why do some people succeed in innovation, while others fall badly? Because, insight.

What is insight? Let me give you an example.

When I was working at Microsoft, the company offered lunch and dinner.

Lunch is generally more frequent than dinner, because not everyone has to work overtime at night.

So the suppliers who make lunches are more profitable. But sometimes, lunch is badly done.

The essence of the problem is, the supplier cut corners, is it not good to do?

So I sent someone to stare at him to do a good job?

Ask them to update their recipes?

Change chefs every once in a while?

These methods are useless.

Improvement requires cost, and suppliers will violate the yin and yang because of the pursuit of profits.

So what to do? Microsoft came up with a system:

1. Choose 2 suppliers, one for lunch and the other for dinner;

2. Do a satisfaction survey every 3 months, do you prefer lunch or dinner?

3. If you like dinner more, lunch and dinner suppliers exchange;

4. If lunch wins for 6 consecutive months, change the dinner supplier.

Since the implementation of this system, suppliers who say that they have done a good job and that the cost of changing flavors will soon be able to provide much better services than before.

Employee satisfaction has also increased dramatically.

This is the way that people who have insight into the essence come up with.

The essence of the problem is not that the supplier has a problem and cut corners.

Rather, there is a problem with the "relationship" between Microsoft and the vendor.

In the face of this problem, the way of thinking of ordinary people is to ask suppliers to improve their level, and if not, I will replace you.

However, when Microsoft has only one supplier, the supplier has no sense of crisis, and no matter how much you push him, he is unscrupulous.

And when you bring in another supplier, after having competitors, the sense of crisis of being eliminated will drive them to find ways to improve the service.

Therefore, people who have insight into the essence, their mode of thinking will be to introduce a competition mechanism, let competition replace labor, to supervise suppliers, and to provide better services.

Excellent people, change the model.

This is insight.

To drive the market, you need insight into the needs that haven't yet broken ground.

Marketing guru, Philip Kotler, said,

There are three capabilities of corporate marketing.

The lowest level is reactive marketing, which is to respond to the needs expressed by consumers.

The intermediate level is predictive marketing, anticipating and reacting to the needs of consumers based on changes in the environment.

The highest level is creative marketing, that is, creating a market by creating products that consumers have not asked for or even imagined.

How to create a market?

Tell a story. IKEA's desperate situation and innovation.

In 1953, when IKEA, which had just turned 10 years old, was fighting a price war with other companies, the founder Ingwa thought, how can it win the favor of consumers?

You have to let them know that my family's products are good.

How to perceive?

Let them see, touch, and even lie down.

As a result, IKEA launched a large area, open space display.

Directly moved the home into the mall, the kitchen is so arranged, how big is the area? Where is the island? Where is the table?

I can see and touch, and people naturally think that I have bought a great value for money at IKEA.

However, this behavior was resisted by other manufacturers at the time.

Participation in furniture fairs is prohibited. Furniture suppliers are required to stop supplying to IKEA.

What to do?

My philosophy cannot change.

Can't supply, can't sell the same products, I will design my own, to overseas directly to find raw material suppliers.

However, there is another important issue in global procurement, logistics costs.

How can it be lowered?

IKEA found that an important problem in logistics at that time was that there were many gaps in the loading of furniture, resulting in unnecessary waste of space.

So they introduced a new packaging concept, flat packaging.

The furniture is dismantled into small parts, spread out and released, and turned into flat boxes.

(Image from IKEA's official website)

As founder Ingvar said,

We never deliver air.

Flat packaging saves space for transportation, reduces logistics costs and warehousing costs.

Moreover, this easy to disassemble packaging method has forced designers to design more concise furniture.

Over time, the well-known IKEA Nordic style was formed.

Under competition, we must insist on ourselves and survive. What to do?

Exercise insight, get up and lead, then soft landing.

Maybe there will be unexpected effects.

Final words

Today I talked to you, the change is coming, how should you choose?

First, see the nature of change.

Next, choose a strategy.

Are you going to catch up with your whole body, or are you going to turn around and lead?

If it's the former, build yourself a bridge and speak for your customers.

If it's the latter, exercise insight and create a market.

Good luck finding the right strategy and skyrocketing.

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