Why will China's building ceramics industry encounter "Waterloo" in 2018 - an unprecedented cliff-like decline in output and sales?
The reduction in domestic and foreign market demand has caused huge challenges; new consumption habits and business models have brought strong impacts; factors such as land, labor costs and environmental protection have seriously restricted development... These are all reasons, but they are not root cause.
Marxist philosophy tells us that external factors are the necessary conditions for the change and development of things, and internal factors are the fundamental reasons for the change and development of things. External factors need to work through internal factors. Therefore, China's construction and ceramics industry suffered setbacks in 2018. From an external factor, the objective environment gradually changed, but from an internal factor, it was the quantitative changes in its own long-standing problems that caused qualitative changes.
Although the question can easily be misunderstood as spreading negative energy, Lao Zen couldn't help but write this article. As the saying goes: There are many problems in the construction and ceramics industry, so I need to speak out boldly.
The main problems existing in China's building ceramics industry can be summarized as six major deficiencies.
1. Lack of innovation ability
It should be said that the independent innovation capabilities of the building ceramics industry are very weak, resulting in serious homogeneity of products, design, marketing, management, etc. of various ceramic companies, and weak market competitiveness.
The so-called new product development, to put it nicely, means learning and reference, but to put it worse, it means following the trend, imitating or even copycatting and plagiarizing. From polished tiles to antique tiles, from microcrystalline stone to fully polished glazed tiles, from marble tiles to porcelain polished tiles, from thin slabs to large slabs, which types of products are easy to sell on the market, which styles of products are popular, and which specifications The products were so popular that ceramic companies immediately organized manpower, material and financial resources to keep up, tried their best to imitate the products, and launched a price war.
The so-called product packaging is just a word game. The selling point of your process is "3D inkjet", and the selling point of my process is "4D inkjet". If you write "5D inkjet", I will say "6D inkjet". In fact, many people in the marketing department don't even know what "D" is. Dongdong didn't even understand it, so he just plagiarized in a daze. You copied me, I copied him, and he was thinking in vain.
The so-called promotional activities are nothing more than trying to catch people off guard. You are "unprecedented in price", I am "unprecedented in strength", you engage in "president signings", and I engage in "model catwalks", which are neither creative nor reflect the characteristics of the industry and products.
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With such "innovation", how can it be competitive in the market?
2. Lack of service spirit
With the development of the times, many industries have gradually transformed from selling products to selling services, and the building and ceramics industry is no exception.
However, since ceramic tiles are durable goods and generally rarely have quality problems, the after-sales service in the building ceramics industry is generally weak, whether it is ceramic enterprises to dealers or dealers to consumers. Despite this, after-sales problems are inevitable, and they are a big problem when they occur.
One day, a dealer received a call from a consumer, saying that a large part of the ceramic tiles purchased from his store had color differences and requested an exchange or return. However, the dealer was afraid of losing profits and was afraid of trouble, so he took the evasive approach, saying that such problems should be solved by the manufacturer, so he sent the corresponding business manager of the manufacturer toThe phone number was given to the consumer; the consumer called the business manager to ask for a solution to the problem. The business manager didn’t know what to do, so he pushed the problem to the marketing department, saying that the marketing department was responsible for after-sales issues; someone from the marketing department received the call from the consumer I didn’t know that the company had an after-sales service department, so I was at a loss and had to resort to a delaying tactic, saying that the colleague in charge of after-sales service was not here and please call back later; I went back and forth over and over again, and finally I didn’t know what was going on, and the problem came again. Back in the hands of the dealer, the consumer made countless calls, only to be met with anger.
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How can you win the trust of customers with such "service"?
3. Lack of openness
An open mind may seem insignificant, but in fact it is a very important thing. Unfortunately, this quality is most lacking in the building and ceramics industry.
Most ceramic companies guard against their peers as much as they guard against thieves. If you see someone who looks like a colleague and wants to enter your showroom, you won't simply refuse to let them in. Instead, you will interrogate them like a police officer investigating a suspect, for fear that others will imitate your product colors and showroom style. To be honest, people will come to learn from you if you do well, and it proves that you are valuable if you do well. Besides, if people are really determined to imitate, they can’t be prevented. People can spend money to do it. If you have to prevent this situation , the best way is to close the door to everyone, including customers, just like the Qing Dynasty closed the country.
Most ceramic companies guard against dealers as much as they guard against a lover cheating on someone. Every time there is an annual meeting, dealers are driven to a place far away from ceramic companies in large and small cars. They are afraid that dealers will wander around whenever they have time, and become tired of the old and switch to other brands. In fact, this is the most unconfident and distrustful sign.
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With such a "big heart", how can we have the structure to become bigger and stronger?
4. Lack of information construction
Today’s society has fully entered the information age, and all walks of life are riding the wave of informationization to make continuous progress. Even if the building and ceramics industry does not engage in e-commerce and Internet +, it must promote information ization, but the reality is that some ceramic companies have not even implemented the most basic information-based office.
For example, employees of a subsidiary brand of a ceramics company have to go through a paper approval process when requesting leave. First, the department manager signs, then the brand CEO signs, then the company leader in charge signs, and even the boss signs. Since the brand and the company do not work in the same place, it will take half or even an hour for employees who ask for leave to go through this process, and the cost of wasted time is staggering. For those who didn’t know, they thought they lived in the 1980s and 1990s.
Another example is that an employee of a ceramics company resigned and had to travel hundreds of kilometers because there was no public transportation, so he had to take a taxi if he didn’t have a car. After getting the resignation approval form and salary slip, you need to ask the department manager to sign first, then the brand manager to sign, then the group leader to sign, and finally the boss to sign. The most important thing is that the boss still stays far away from the corporate marketing headquarters all year round. The factory is dozens of kilometers away, which means having to drive or take a taxi to find the boss to sign; the most important thing is that in the end, when you get a fully signed payslip, you have to go to the factory to collect your severance pay, just because of the financial The department works there, especially because they only pay cash.
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With such “informationization”, how can we give wings to development?
5. Lack of scientific management
Most of the problems in enterprises are ultimately people’s problems, and the core of management is to solve people’s problems. The four major deficiencies in the building and ceramics industry mentioned above are ultimately caused by Caused by the lack of scientific management, talents cannot make full use of their talents, which further leads to decision-making errors and insufficient execution.
There are many such examples.
For example, in order to develop and expand the business, the owner of a certain ceramic company hired professional managers as brand CEOs for several of his brands. But he is unwilling to delegate power. All matters, big or small, especially those involving money, must be approved by him personally. Therefore, if professional managers cannot exercise their own powers, they will exercise the powers of department managers and sales area managers. If department managers and sales area managers cannot exercise their own powers, they will exercise the powers of their subordinate employees. authority. In this way, the benefits of corporate management can be imagined.
Another example is that many brands of ceramic companies do not have administrative departments, let alone separate human resources departments. The marketing department often serves as the leader’s administrative assistant or is responsible for recruitment and internal training, but As a result, energy was dispersed and more important work was delayed.
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With such "management", how can we solve people's problems?
6. Lack of pragmatism
In fact, the five major deficiencies in the ceramics industry mentioned above can all be traced back to the eagerness for quick success and lack of pragmatic attitude.
Such examples abound.
There are manyThere are many ceramic companies like this. When they see which products of other companies are profitable, they immediately blindly follow suit. When they see which models of other companies are attractive to dealers, they immediately copy them. When they see that the business situation is not good, they immediately change careers. Managers or marketing managers, after recruiting people for a few days, see that the medicine has not cured the disease and have no immediate effect, they immediately replace a group of people; but they never thought of being down-to-earth, thinking in the long term, and doing things bit by bit. rise.
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Being so "pragmatic", how can you move toward your goal step by step?
The problems faced by China's building ceramics industry may seem troublesome, but in fact they are very simple. They need to abandon the idea of quick success and quick gain, and use a down-to-earth attitude and an open mind to innovate and provide good services. Do a good job in informatization construction and scientific management. For ceramic enterprises, they must be hard on themselves to make iron, continue to work hard, and serve dealers and other customers well; for dealers, they must also be hard on themselves to make iron, continue to work hard, and serve consumers well. and other customers.
Only by giving full play to your subjective initiative and being yourself can you remain invincible in the fiercely competitive and ever-changing market. As Jack Ma said, "90% of people are complaining about the macroeconomy, but 90% of the companies that have collapsed have nothing to do with the macroeconomy." "I want to remind everyone, no matter whether it is good or bad in 2019, just do your best! ”
The real crisis is not a crisis in the external economic situation, but a crisis in internal management.
