标签: sales

元器件分销商在中国伴随着中国制造业的成长而成长，经过这些年的发展，分销商行业目前已基本发展成熟稳定。巨头代理商、专业分销商、贸易商在生态森林中各显其能，航母、货轮、小舢板百舸争流，它将中国巨大的制造产业群与上游海外、台湾与本土的元器件供应源很好地沟通起来，有机地组成了中国电子制造业的产业链（特别说明：本文中的分销商、代理商及通路商暂不在内含、外延上做区分，只当广义的相同概念，下同）。 本人身处供应链中的元器件代理商感同身受。但仍然有不少制造厂商、原厂甚至代理商自身内部某些成员依然存在不少对分销角色的认识误区，如有客户认为代理商只是中间层，因为有内部关系才白白赚去了产业链中的中间差价，造成产品成本的上升，因此应该让原厂直供，减少中间层云云。这说明元器件分销商的价值还未真正被普遍认识，它们的生存理由还未被揭开。   那么元器件分销商都是靠什么生存呢？ 首先，代理商本身是服务性质的行业，它自身没有生产与制造性质的职能，只是单纯的通路。所有的存在价值都是各种的服务。 其次，服务能力的优劣拚的是管理水平，优秀的分销商大都是管理水平比较高的。 第三，服务是不是到位取决于分销商是不是够专业。   下面，笔者将交给你一副X光眼镜来认清分销商服务内容的骨架核心本质：   一、批零服务 原厂批发芯片给代理商，代理商零售给中小客户，这是销售服务中最基本的服务职能。原厂的销售部门只能服务个别的、代表性的、巨型的客户，对于行业中的众多中小客户，它们是服务不过来的，必然会由代理商进行零散销售服务。这方面代理商有原厂不可替代的专业优势：它们的组织架构就是专门为中小客户配置，PM、Sales人力管理也是销售服务型而不是原厂的开发管理型，参与的产业环节短、薄而管理类型相对单纯高效。 甚至代理商还能做到更低价的零售服务，玩出Volume Deal：代理商对市场上的需求进行汇总出一个有吸引力的量，与原厂谈来一个有竞争力的很低的价格，然后以高出一点点的价格在市场上销售，让客户享受更低的成本价格。这就是代理商做得到而原厂却无能为力之所在。   二、售后服务 这也是销售行业最基本的服务职能之一。代理商要对客户生产中遇到的应用、质量等问题的投诉进行指导、代为解决或反馈回原厂处理。这其中代理商是客户与原厂的缓冲器与过滤器：客户的大多数问题往往是自身生产应用工艺不当造成的而非原厂质量问题，专业的代理商会对这类问题进行过滤，并通过专业能力进行指导，直接迅速解决问题。如果真是芯片问题再反馈原厂解决，否则，开发管理型的原厂是没有能力应付这么多客户的这么多的低级问题的，碰上不专业的代理商会被折磨疯掉！ 因此，我们也能看出问题的另一面，代理商够不够专业也是被客户、原厂选择的关键因素。   三、集成服务 专业的原厂才有竞争力，专业的原厂什么都能生产、什么都供应的时代已经越来越遥远了。现在的产品板上的元器件往往有十几种甚至几十种品牌，再强的SOC芯片了不能把它们都包进去，这么多品牌往往是每个品牌就是一个原厂。这么多品牌大部分都由一个代理商来供应服务倒是比较普遍，客户的采购只需面对少数几个代理商就能完成议价与下单的采购工作，代理商的业务人员也会因为一个客户的大部分器件都由自己交从而远比每个客户只交一个料号的效率高得多的多。如今国际巨头级的代理商如艾睿、安富利等每家代理的品牌都在成百甚至上千个，基本上能覆盖客户八成甚至更多的材料需求。 这就是所谓的“一站式服务”，也是巨型代理商的规模优势。它们因为能为客户供应多数器件，从而在人力、物流等方面的效率上成倍地提高，产生代理商的最核心的生存理由。代理商高层在引入新产品线时，也往往从能否构成“一站式”优势这方面来进行考虑。   四、物流服务 客户的最基本需求是物流交货等服务，这方面代理商是最合适的。代理商能为客户提供的物流服务包括：送货、报关、代开票、美元进货人民币结算的货币兑换等。这些都是大家天天看得到的，笔者就不赘述了。   五、赊销服务 也就是放帐模式。下游客户在生产、制造过程中往往存在资金链压力，代理商为有信誉的客户垫资，通过放帐等条款增加对客户服务价值，增强自己的服务竞争力。这方面原厂往往因为不如代理商了解客户而不敢给客户放帐，有这类需求的客户服务也就顺理成章地交给代理商完成了。这其中往往有不少都是优质的大客户。   六、库存服务 现代化大生产效率要求越来越高，零库存管理也是国际巨型EMS对供应商提出的更高的要求。制造商为了保证零库存，会要求供应商在它的工厂附近设一个缓冲仓库，在它们生产前很短时间内才通知送货，从而达到库存、仓管高效率与低风险。代理商为客户提供缓冲仓服务是现代制造业商业模式的新挑战的服务模式，它对制造商、代理商对市场的预测把控能力要求非常高。（参见笔者另一博文： 营销功课：Forecast准确度高低有什么意义？   ）   七、技术服务 客户的开发、生产及售后服务都离不开技术支持，在半导体销售行业没有技术支持的代理商原厂是不会给出代理权的。技术支持能力弱的代理商客户也不放心，我们品佳经常会碰到一些客户的生意是一些小代理商先期导入、但由于技术服务不了客户而转给我们的。 但是，仅有技术支持就够了吗？远远不够！支持是对客户现实生产问题的解决服务，而不同的行业中客户对产品与技术的需求是有差异的，有的没能力自己开发喜欢吃现成的，有的有能力开发但选择的器件方案未必够合理、够竞争力。代理商可根据自身代理的产品线组合出由代理产品搭建出来的产品、也就是在上述第三条中提到的“一站式服务”的组合基础上给客户尽量优质的选择。 不仅如此，有些代理商还在一站式的硬件基础上编写一定层次的应用软件搭成客户非常容易量产的方案供给客户，加速产品化。也就是所谓的“Turn Key(交钥匙)”模式。这方面，大联大集团尤其是品佳比同行的外资两巨头的功夫深多了。它增强了上述第三条“一站式服务”的内含，提高子它的价值，也是“一站式服务”的强弱、层次差异所在。 因此，在代理商行业内，技术价值是多层次的，搞技术的不一定是狗！   八、决策咨询 买的永远不如卖的精！ 供需信息不对称是常态，与客户分享市场信息是有价值的，尤其是供应方向的信息。例如笔者的“ 金融风暴还没过 我们为何还缺货？ ”一文就是在与一客户分析市场状况后将讨论内容整理而得来的。这方面的价值就相当于给客户一个信息战的情报一样让客户的忠诚度无以附加。 这方面的市场信息，我们不应仅仅理解成是从原厂得到的，有相当部分是在包括原厂信息在内的各种信息由代理商自己进行分析决策得来的。笔者在品佳专管一个部门叫策略行销部，英文叫Technical Marketing Dept.，所有的Marketing都必须有Technical背景。市场经验告诉我们：产品的技术门槛与技术关键决定其商业模式走向。由这些TM进行市场信息搜集、整理、分析，然后提出策略让品佳公司对新产品、新技术、新领域的理解与决策正确率总是“看得很准”，因此我们对客户的参考咨询价值也是无法估量的。这也可能是大的代理商之间技术、市场理解力的差异吧！ 因此，搞技术的对于客户的服务价值应该够大家略见一斑的了吧！顺说一句：搞战略决策必须有专业技术背景，其他人无法替代。也就是说：搞技术的一定可以不是狗！   九、各位高手看到的价值，欢迎追加！

The key point I want to make with this blog post is that the sales channel is a living organism. It needs to be adapted and changed as a company evolves, and that’s how entrepreneurs should view it. It’s likely, too, that the sales organization will undergo several changes, and some of those could be painful.   As well, founders must be active participants in the sales activities and cannot avoid being hands-on in the initial sales situations. They have to live and feel the pain of their customers and understand how their solution is helping. Not participating in the sales efforts will undermine the whole strategy. After all, at the heart of the startup is the unwavering belief in what you’re doing and seeing its impact.   Early customer engagements are important and must be nurtured. Each will be unlike another and have different use models than what the founders anticipated. In fact, the sales process will go through many changes until the right recipe for success has been developed.   Of course, the founders should not be part of the sales team forever, unless they want to move into that role. It is only possible for the founder to be acting as CEO plus vice president of sales, engineering lead, and super field applications engineer (FAE) for a short period of time. Eventually, for the company to scale, the bench will be built up and full of experienced sales professionals able to open doors by leveraging their existing network.   Phase one, however, is when the founders work closely with initial customers. The sales team comes in at the next phase, when the product is ready to proliferate out of the original sales engagements, and it’s a quite different scenario.   Many in our industry compare the phases to the Hunter and the Farmer. The hunter is the stalker and is able to stalk out initial opportunities. At this stage, the goal is to identify a select number of targets and pursue them relentlessly. The farmer is the harvester; he or she follows in the footsteps of the hunter. The farmer leverages the initial entry into a strategic account provided by the hunter to proliferate the solution across multiple teams. Naturally, the salespeople fitting those two profiles require different skills.   Hunters tend to operate independently and thrive in unknown territory. The farmer is more of a team player and should be paired with an FAE who has a large role to play. This is the individual who’s living with the customer, and he or she roams the cubicle hallways looking for other prospects, an important aspect of the position.   An important skill for the early sales managers is their skill at analyzing the fit between the solution offered and the customer’s problem. Seasoned sales managers are adept at this and will often recommend how to revise the product positioning to adapt to early customer needs and, later on, to expand from a vertical space to another, broader focus.   As the company grows and moves into yet another phase, sales will need more of an infrastructure. The Holy Grail for a company sales organization is to be able to create a reliable sales process that can be applied consistently across the globe. It should include how to identify the right kind of customer and the pitch that works best. It also encompasses training programs that allow the company to bring on new sales managers and quickly make them operational.   Reaching this level of maturity is a great achievement for a sales organization -- one that will take time and, unfortunately, changes in personnel. Of course, it’s a validation that the technology is a useful tool. It also sends a message to the industry that the company is growing and has momentum. A focus on big customers and proliferating the technology within these big companies will help a startup reach an inflection point.   Sales is complex and expensive, neither of which should be overlooked. Building the right product is only half the story. Sales and marketing is the other half. No company can be successful without both halves performing at their peak levels.   Michel Courtoy Board Member Breker Verification Systems  

This blog focuses on sales, the critical measure of success and staying power for any company. For a company to grow and thrive, it needs to create a repeatable sales process. This means a template for a successful customer engagement can be described and taught to new sales team members. Equipped with this tool, new team members are expected to become productive in a few months.   Let's focus on what it takes to get to this level of sales maturity, which appears to be elusive for the new startup. How does an entrepreneur select the initial members of the sales team, knowing that these critical hires can make or break the company?   Setting the right context is important. When initial decisions are being made about hiring the foundation sales team, the emerging company's messaging, positioning, and ROI are not clear, refined, or even focused. That's why hiring the right person for the sales function is so vitally important to navigating the sales process.   Quite a few entrepreneurs close a few "partner" customers on their own without the help of a professional sales manager. This is often a wise choice, since it provides the entrepreneur with a direct link to the customer during the technology's early development phase. However, the entrepreneur quickly becomes a bottleneck if key roles are not delegated. The founder cannot be the CEO, vice president of engineering, super FAE, and sales manager while raising money and expect the company to grow.   Must haves The need to hire the initial sales executive will emerge early in the startup's development. What is this key team member's profile? It's the sales person who will find the right design team with the right set of problems that an unproven product may be able to handle and then traverse an imperfect situation. The product is not quite ready and needs more polish. The sales template is nonexistent. Though the course is uncharted, a good sales manager can be counted on to fill in the gaps.   The individual must have the savvy and skills to overcome this incomplete set of data by understanding the problem and solution and by determining whether there's a match between the two. He or she is the go between for the design team, RD, the FAE, and the marketing team.   Throughout the initial engagement, the sales manager can't do it alone. Well before the sales process is codified, the sales person should marshal a support system to help steer through the various shoals that arise in the first customer engagements. The sales manager will know at what stage in the sales process to bring in the various players -- the technical founder, the FAE, the marketing manager -- and the roles they are cast to perform. It's a big responsibility, but it can be vastly rewarding, because he or she is helping refine the product and messaging and, ultimately, makes the initial sales.   Closing business is the first goal, followed quickly by creating a sales process that can be replicated in other sales engagements. Once the initial accounts have been closed and the product reaches maturity, the sales manager will be able to hire and train the sales team.   A network isn't everything Savvy and persistence trumps the network in my book. It's great to have a long list of contacts and established credibility with them. These assets help open doors. But all too often, the contacts change jobs, get promoted, are assigned to other projects with different challenges, or leave engineering entirely. An impressive contacts list can become outdated quickly.   A motivated sales manager can overcome the lack of contacts with hard work by acquiring a deep understanding of the customers and by persevering beyond initial rejections. He or she should be a self-starter, since a startup won't have the resources a big company can provide. Most of the sales managers I know took a route out of engineering into application engineering and into sales. As a result, they have a grasp of the technical problem facing the design team. They learned sales through on-the-job training, and they can help fashion a solution.   I would be terribly remiss if I did not highlight the importance of the application engineers in a winning sales team's composition. The most successful sales managers rely on their FAEs who take an imperfect product, make it work in an actual customer environment, and hide all the emerging technology's warts. Meanwhile, they build relationships with the customers and identify the next opportunity.   So much of what I've written about in previous blogs applies to navigating the sales process, as well, and that means finding the right person. He or she needs sales savvy, technical expertise, excellent people and management skills, and the ability to function in an entrepreneurial environment where the rules are not yet in place. It can be a great opportunity and an exhilarating experience for the right person.   Michel Courtoy is a former design engineer and EDA executive who sits on the board of directors at Breker Verification Systems.

  继续谈一下上面所说的炒单，一般很少有人会说这个问题，做代理销售的不会谈是因为要标榜自己没有这么做过，而其他人不谈是因为不太清楚具体操作流程。   先说一下代理销售，代理销售分为俩种，Out Sales and In Sales，怎么分的呢？   Out Sales 主要负责开发与联系新客户（前期沟通，要交易的时候把客户介绍给In Sales）   In Sales 主要负责客户订单跟踪、维护与管理（不用独立开发新客户）   听到这个情况，估计大家也明白了，一般有机会炒单的是In Sales。   但是具体要怎么操作呢？操作手法比较多，个人情况不同，手段也不同，我在这只说一种比较常见的手法。   从市场现货商、工厂老板、In sales、FAE、Marketing一条完整的利益链，一环扣一环。   In sales 从市场现货商方面了解他们常备物料是否有现货库存，什么货好出，容易脱手，什么货，市场很少有，也容易脱手的。他会看是否有符合能帮他下采购订单的客户正用的物料，如果有一切都好说，上一篇的时候也讲了，如果没有，那么就要靠FAE的帮助了，立一个具体的项目，会用到这颗物料，并且符合下采购单客户应用的，工厂客户根据这个项目向In sales 下采购订单（有朋友听到着就会问了，这样对工厂有什么利益呢？他又不会用到这些料，谈不上为了批量而降低价格，只要说一下，不光批量会降低价格，根据你的出货总量和出货单数量也会降低价格的），In sales 向Marketing 申请价格（有部分Marketing也会参与到炒单环节中，帮助降价），最后这批货由给市场的现货商负责买单。 这条利益链并不完全，不同情况也会有不同的人参与进来。   而且，不同的现货商在同一个In Sales 手中拿货的价格也不一定相同。利益链越完整，他的操作方法和安全性也就越高。   我在这讲的并不完全，因为里面还涉及到一些其他的问题，在这只是给大家做一个简单的介绍，揭开炒单神秘的面纱。也希望大家积极回复，提提不同看法。谢谢   电子元器件分销行业细分和潜规则（一） 电子元器件分销行业细分与潜规则（三）

说起这个话题让我想起吉隆坡的一次原厂的年会，作为分销商的代表，我们拿到了最佳分销商的金牌，本来是一件很开心的事情，不曾想在新产品REVIEW的时候，却演变成一场严重的冲突！ 起因很简单，一个坐到树尖上的家伙（全球副总裁兼亚太区销售总监），此人SALES出身，能言善辩，虽为香港种，却比大陆人还大陆人。对于大陆SALES擅长的那些所谓的销售技巧（KTV桑拿+玩命的喝酒+回扣=订单）了熟于心，所以时常有“搞定客户”这样的词从这位高层嘴里冒出来就没什么奇怪了！ 大家的争论集中到新产品的BUG问题，我们的辩解是新产品BUG太多，且很多是IC设计的缺陷，无法在应用中消除，而这些关键指标又是客户最关心的，所以新产品销售不理想。结果此公语言相当不敬：“我的产品就是有问题，所以才要你们代理商，你们SALES帮我推；如果没问题我还要你们干嘛？且这个世界上从来就没有卖不出的产品，只有卖不出去产品的SALES，把有问题的产品卖出去才叫TOP SALES！” “我纠正老大一句，把明知有问题的产品卖出去，那不叫TOP SALES，那叫骗子！”我当时很不合时宜的顶了此公一句！接下来可想而知，那小子开始滔滔不绝的诉说他当年如何之神勇，如何将一个个有问题的产品卖进客户的板子，双方（确切讲我方就我一个）展开了舌战，最后谁也没有说服谁，不欢而散。当时在场的有我们公司大中华区的GM还有我们的FAE的头，大家都很憋气，可是人家涵养好，被人这么数落也不吭声，还陪笑脸，佩服台湾人为了利益就喜欢不吭声，你看钓鱼岛都快被日本人占了，小马哥也不吭声！ 虽然此事已经过去很多年，但是鄙人仍然认为，一个SALES首先还是要具备正直诚实的品质，绝不能卖品质有问题的产品给客户，如果实在新产品有瑕疵，也得诚实告诉客户，如果缺陷的部分是客户最关注的指标，宁愿不要做这个生意，也不要害人害己！更不应该用所谓的商业手段“搞定客户”，要知道这个世界上最靠不住的就是“关系”了！实实在在的把事情做好是最靠谱最长久的出路，至于人情后感倒是可以理解，毕竟这是中国嘛！