For commercial companies, in the monthly summary meeting, the company's executives will give a very detailed report to report on the implementation of the strategy this month. It was some time ago that I suddenly figured out - what he lacked was the insight and analysis behind th

A good strategy must be simple.

This is my latest experience, and it feels more and more correct.

I once worked for an Internet e-commerce company. During the monthly summary meeting, the company's executives would give a very detailed report to report on the implementation of the strategy this month. But every time after he finished speaking, I had an indescribable feeling, always feeling that something was missing.

It was some time ago that I suddenly figured out - what he lacked was the insight and analysis behind the phenomenon. In short, he lacked strategy .

Although he listed a lot of data and paired it with a lot of pictures, he talked a lot, but it seemed like he didn’t say anything.

People here have listened a lot, but it seems that they haven’t heard any valuable information.

The core of a good monthly report PPT material is not the list of data or the stacking of charts, but about strategy.

. About strategy

What is about strategy?

Simply put, it is to solve three questions: What is the current market situation? Based on this situation, what is our main direction of attack? How to allocate resources to achieve our strategic goals?

Let’s be more specific. For example, regarding competition, what have we done, what have our opponents done, and how has it affected us? What did we do to fight back, and how effective was it? What are the suggestions?

For example, regarding difficulties, what problems are currently occurring and what is the current situation? What strategy should we adopt?

and so on, these are all about strategy. We don’t need data, but the thinking behind the data. And this is exactly what many business managers lack.

Back to the topic, I said that the strategy must be simple.

. Strategy is often spoken in the vernacular

First of all, strategy is often spoken in the vernacular and is easy to understand. When we talk about a company's strategy, we don't talk about it with so much data or a chart, but in plain English.

For example, if this company is very strong, what are its advantages, what are its disadvantages, where are its strong channels, what are its competitors... In just a few sentences, the strategic situation of this company is outlined.

Whenever you throw away the PPT, the information you say is the most critical information. This was most touching when reading "Selected Works of Mao Zedong".

Chairman Mao is China's greatest strategist in modern times. "Selected Works of Mao" is the essence of his strategic thinking. "Strategic Issues in China's Revolutionary War" and " On Protracted War" are two of the most well-known strategic works.

In "Mao Xuan", we did not see a data chart, but more of 's analysis of the situation, judgment of direction and deduction of results.

"On Protracted War" Chairman Mao's classic strategic work

The modern anti-Japanese war can be said to be a battle of life and death for the Chinese nation. Chairman Mao's article "On Protracted War" pointed out the direction for the Anti-Japanese War. It can even be said that the three stages discussed in "On Protracted War" are simply a preview of the Anti-Japanese War: China will surely win, and Japan will definitely be defeated.

The situation of the Anti-Japanese War was so complex and difficult. As for the discussion of strategic thinking, Chairman Mao only used textual discussion and analysis, and almost no numbers, let alone those confusing data reports. .

The content of "Good Strategy, Bad Strategy", which is highly recommended by Li Mingshou, is indeed very good.

Not only that, but in the book "Good Strategy, Bad Strategy" recommended by Li Mingshou, there is also a related discussion: "There is no complicated Charts, no abstract formulas, no fancy terms full of acronyms, just an idea and some steps to implement it, discover the potential power of a form in an extremely simple way. "The potential power mentioned here is the power of strategy.

. Strategy does not require professional terms

Secondly, strategy does not require or rarely uses professional terms. Strategy reveals the essential laws of things and is basically not used in a certain industry. Proper nouns. If we still use proper nouns in the description, it will basically remain on the surface.

What is the essence of strategy?

The essence of strategy is "Who to fight with?" Where? how to spell? "A series of strategic questions , we temporarily call them Three strategic questions .

Three strategic questions that directly point to the essence of strategy

Combined with positioning theory , the three strategic questions solve the three core issues of positioning consulting: Who to fight with solves the problem defined by the competitor; where to fight solves the problem of main attack direction or positioning direction; how to fight solves the problem of strategic coordination or tactical actions.

You see, no matter how complicated it is. The specific questions can be broken down into the three strategic questions above.

If it is a strategic report, it must solve the three strategic questions . If it is not solved, it is not a qualified strategic report, up to the national competitive strategy, intermediate enterprises. This is true for competitive strategies, down to personal development strategies, without exception.

Three Kingdoms Situation Map

​Some people say that Zhuge Liang's " Longzhong vs. " is the earliest strategic positioning report, and he also conforms to this.

Who to fight? Mainly Sun Quan.

Where to fight? Attack the weak link first and establish a base.

How to fight against Cao? Be invincible first, wait for the enemy to be victorious, and then attack strategically when you are sure of victory.

The same is true if it is placed in a specific strategic positioning case

Qiaofu Courtyard Brand Poster

For example, we have served Qiaofu. After three consecutive years of stagnant revenue, Dayuan Rice’s revenue doubled in 2019 and exceeded the 1 billion mark.

Let’s look at the three strategic questions of Qiaofu Dayuan. Who is it mainly fighting with? There are big brands in grain and oil across the country, such as Arowana , Fulinmen, China Resources Ng Fung , etc. Secondly, there are the small brands and miscellaneous brands from various origins. Where to hit

? The weak area of ​​the big grain and oil brands - although the sales volume is large, it is not high-end enough, and it is a national brand rather than an expert brand from the place of origin. Qiaofu's main sales price range should be staggered with the big grain and oil brands. How to type

? The core strategy is to position Qiaofu Courtyard as: high-end rice from the Northeast.

Why?

comes from the Northeast. is the national brand disadvantage that I want to attack the big grain and oil brands by relying on the advantages of regional origin. The national brand was originally an advantage, but here it becomes a weakness.

High-end rice is that my price band is staggered with the big grain and oil brands, which is equivalent to launching a high-end flanking war. High sales volume at low prices was originally an advantage for big grain and oil brands, but here it became their disadvantage.

Now that we have positioned ourselves, we need some complete and systematic reporting, including product structure sorting and pricing strategy, channel strategy, dynamic sales strategy, public relations strategy and hard advertising strategy.

This is how to fight.

. Good strategies are often common sense.

Third, good strategies are often common sense.

Let’s look at several principles that strategy should follow, such as concentrating troops. Simply put, more people can defeat those with fewer people, and those with stronger strength can defeat those with less strength. Is this common sense?

Concentrating troops is common sense, but many people lose common sense.It can even be said that the process of human growth is the process of losing common sense.

Discussion on Concentration of Forces Discussion on Concentration of Forces

Xiaofu relies on diligence. What's the meaning?

This sentence tells us that as long as we work diligently for one thing, over time, we will have an advantage in this matter and be able to live a life of small wealth. This is almost certain.

Because people have not too few opportunities, but too many opportunities , so they are half-hearted and do too many things without being competitive in one thing.

The same goes for businesses.

I have recently been researching a western dairy brand, which has at least a dozen brands. Its products include liquid milk, yogurt, infant milk powder, adult milk powder, pregnant women's milk powder and goat milk powder , SKU at least some. 100, but the scale of the company is only a few hundred million.

Wanglaoji can sell a can of herbal tea for 26 billion. Too many companies have dozens of products, but they can only huddle in one area and survive.

Without concentration of troops, there will be no competitive advantage, and the battle will not be won, and the rest will be failure.

About the importance of concentrating troops

​Another example is avoiding the real and attacking the weak. In short, it is to avoid the opponent's strong areas and focus on the opponent's weak areas to launch attacks. This is obvious, but many people also make this mistake.

For example, Jack Ma's 's Alibaba failed when doing social communication software. Later, I succeeded in making the enterprise communication software and Dingding .

What is the reason? Just avoid the truth and attack the fictitious.

If you are an entrepreneur, is your company also doing a new business, and this new business is the advantage of your competitors?

If you are a job holder, are you doing a job where you do not have an advantage but your colleagues do?

The relationship between strategy and common sense

​Strategy can often be judged by common sense. But common sense is like oxygen, the higher you are, the thinner the oxygen becomes. As the saying goes:

A good strategy is very simple and does not require mountains of data.

A good strategy uses plain language. Even if you don’t understand nouns, you are not afraid.

A good strategy has three questions: Who to fight, determine the competition.

Where to fight, determine the direction, and how to fight. Determine the competition. It is worthy of being called

A good strategy is common sense. Reading too much is also a bad thing

A good strategy is to ask your heart. The original intention is always the fixed intention