标签: marketing

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！

A provocative analyst prediction can really get people talking. Several years ago, it was Gartner's prediction that marketing organizations will outspend IT organizations on technology by 2017. Not to be outdone, the provocateurs at IDC last week weighed in with their own headline-grabber: By 2020, chief digital officers (CDOs) will "supplant" 60% of CIOs at global companies "for the delivery of IT-enabled products and digital services."   In other words, most CIOs -- if the position still exists at their companies in five years -- will be relegated mostly to managing and securing infrastructure and applications, according to the IDC prediction, one of 10 that the research firm laid out as 2014 comes to a close. CDOs, meantime, will take on the more strategic (and fun) role of applying digital technologies -- mobile, cloud, analytics, social, robotics -- to boost revenue, maximize profits, and delight customers. CIOs = back office. CDOs = front office. It's 1989 all over again.   Here's my prediction: By 2020, chief digital officers will be yesterday's fad, joining the ranks of chief innovation, learning, and culture officers. Sure, a handful of them will still exist, but the CIO -- customer-focused and product-savvy -- will drive the corporate digital agenda in partnership with CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, and other business leaders. CIOs won't go back to being order-takers. "What good CIO would let that happen?" says Cathy Bessant, head of Bank of America's 100,000-person Global Technology and Operations unit, which includes six or seven CIOs.   Those CIOs who can't cut it as digital innovators and customer pleasers will go the way of CFOs who can't think outside of their spreadsheets and CMOs who can't move beyond direct-mail marketing and banner ads. That is, they'll lose their jobs because of their failure to keep up with the times and corporate priorities.   But that doesn't mean roughly 60% of current technology chiefs aren't up to the challenge of leading the next great technology movement. You can already size up the CIO of tomorrow by looking at the top CIOs of today -- the likes of Rob Carter at FedEx, Lynden Tennison at Union Pacific, John Halamka at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Karenann Terrell at Wal-Mart, and Gordon Wishon at Arizona State University -- all technically astute, customer-focused, business savvy. They're not MIS chiefs; they're strategists.   Getting to that level isn't a bridge too far even for CIOs who today may be spending too much of their time in the weeds. In a recent Gartner survey of more than 2,800 CIOs in 84 countries, 73% of respondents said they have changed their leadership style over the last three years, and 75% said they need to change their style over the next three years, to meet the demands of digital business. "The exciting news for CIOs," Gartner maintains, "is that despite the rise of roles such as the chief digital officer, they are not doomed to be an observer of the digital revolution."   Not only do most marketing-bred CDOs lack the technical expertise to lead the digital charge, but they also lack the project management experience, says Satya Ramaswamy, head of the Digital Enterprise unit of Tata Consultancy Services. "We are not seeing CIOs going away at all," Ramaswamy says. Especially at large scale, "digital reimagination," as he calls it, "is too complex for someone with a marketing background. There's so much going on the back end to drive the front." The two aren't separable.   Despite its optimism about the future role of the CIO, Gartner issued a warning: "Through both nature and nurture, CIOs have evolved into control-style pragmatic leaders," Gartner VP Graham Waller said in a statement. "Given the characteristics of the new digital era, this bias is dangerous. CIOs must invert their style to be more vision-led and inspirational."   Bank of America's Bessant, a former company CMO in her own right, says CIOs do need to adopt the mindset of "thinking digital first, digital by design."   "I can see the cultural revolution that we've got to have," she says. "But good/great technologists are awesome problem-solvers and have the ability to see the future. Shame on any CIO who can't see that coming."   If the world wasn't changing, we might continue to view IT purely as a service organization, and ITSM might be the most important focus for IT leaders. But it's not, it isn't and it won't be -- at least not in its present form.   Rob Preston currently serves as VP and editor in chief of InformationWeek, where he oversees the editorial content and direction of its various website, digital magazine, Webcast, live and virtual event, and other products. Rob has 25 years of experience in high-tech

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.

Let me start with a story about peas -- more specifically, canned baby peas. While working for a semiconductor company in the 1970s, I had the opportunity to support a customer who developed industrial control systems for automating processing plants. He had a problem with one of our single-board computers used in a food processing factory.   We solved the problem, but in the process, I had the opportunity to tour the packaging line. Peas and liquid were metered into cans, which were then sealed and loaded into a giant retort canner. At the end of the cooking time, the cooled cans were sent through a labeling machine that applied product labels to the cans. I was shocked to see that the same peas, from the same process run, were having two different labels applied. One label was plain white paper with a cartoonish figure and the words "baby peas." The other was a beautiful silver foil with embossed letters that said "petit baby peas."   Now, I had often purchased the foil-labeled peas in the past. They were literally right next to the baby peas with the white paper label at my supermarket. What was the difference? Why were my peas priced double the other peas?   The answer was profound. I wasn't buying peas. I was buying a mental image of who I was and how I fit into society. The silver foil-labeled peas were man's peas. The white paper-labeled peas were for kids.   So marketing tells lies -- falsehoods -- things that serve to convey a false impression. Those are pretty strong sentiments that seem to damn marketing professionals.     Before my marketing friends hang me in effigy, however, we should note that, during the specification of an engineering product, a company's marketing team often finds itself in the role of a conduit for misleading or just plain false information to make its way from prospects to the engineering group. Some companies' marketing departments interpret prospect data to arrive at product requirements -- both positive and negative requirements. The question: How do we tell the essential truth from the "mushware" that inevitably comes along for the ride?   Like a great many things in engineering life, sorting the information into bins is the first step. But there is an important message that goes with this sorting: Don't drink your own Kool-Aid. Another way to look at this is to break everything down into objective measures. It may be easier to get to the essence of discerning fact from fiction by listing a few commonly used phrases.   I'll bet that you have heard this one: "Our products are ." When it comes to tangible qualities, this is mushware, pure and simple. Every person who hears this platitude should ask, "As measured by what?" Absent a statement that provides a quantifiable measure, statements like this should be approached cautiously (if at all). What they actually mean to me is "This product isn't actually ready for prime time, and we really hope you'll debug it for us." This may seem harsh, but it's all too real. A favorite tool for me is a red marker. I'll go through a product description and mark through all similar statements that are not backed up by objective measures. The more red, the more problems.   Then there are statements like "We developed our product with your business in mind." Another dose of mushware. How would you determine whether or not the person making this statement is telling the truth? And what is the truth?   These two examples may seem overly simplistic, but they illustrate the sort of mistruths that are propagated, sometimes by accident and sometimes by an inability to accept truths that create cognitive dissonance. It is your marketing team's job to figure out who the customers are (and will be), how to convey product information, and how to stake out a position in the prospects' minds.   Quantifiable, verifiable, and intrinsically fair -- these need to be the objectives of getting at the true facts used to drive engineering development. The way to get there is by using engineering principles. Now, marketing professionals are just that -- professionals. As engineers, we can work with marketing to ensure that the right followup questions are asked to guide us during the product specification and development phases. The purpose of our questions is to ensure that the product meets the customer needs. Marketing's purpose is gain answers for us in addition to determining how the product will be branded, positioned, and sold.   My past experience tells me that working with marketing to define a useful product and to then use that product specification to steer marketing interaction minimizes risk. The hard part is maintaining an objective viewpoint -- especially as an inventor or developer. Nevertheless, your company's future and your continued employment may well depend on your ability to remain fact-based.   Henry Davis is an independent contractor.

一、有关Marketing要啰嗦几句的   Marketing作为一个岗位是随外资企业进入中国的泊来货，在中文里好像还没有一个特别合适的词与之对应，字典里也都是些销售、经销、促销、营销、销售活动一类的解释。在半导体器件圈中台资企业的中文也偶见用行销专员这个词。 之所以如此，我认为应该是这个岗位的职责内含丰富但不明确限定，外延太广也不统一。内含既有市场又有促销还有销售，每个企业的侧重都千差万别，相应的外延差异就更大了，所以大家就用原装字眼而各自意会为己所用且不着急规范它。这也多少有点像我们中文与佛经有很多概念如般若、涅磐一样不能一一对翻，用原装代码表达更流畅，含义另有解释或自己理解。 在半导体通路圈子，Marketing的概念基本上是指与市场营销相关的活动、任务或职责。作为一个岗位就是负责市场营销的人员。其中不同侧重的还有专门的词修饰如Product Marketing、Technical Marketing等。 那么Marketing是不是就是销售员呢？非常不是。两者的面对的对象不一样，Marketing面对的是整个市场，而销售员则面对的是产品应用的客户群；Marketing的任务是摸清市场状况、制定市场策略，而销售员的任务是服务客户群、完成产品销售任务。从这两点上先让大家基本了解Marketing的大致概念。 和许多的基础产业及前沿科技产业相似，国内的市场营销的认识水平也是差距很大，甚至可以说还分不清市场与销售有什么区别。国内头号学府的市场学教授还依然拿金利来领带的故事当案例在生搬硬套，本质上还是只表不里，抄抄抄！所以，与之同病相怜的是我们国内企业的一个明显特点就是有拉关系到极致的销售，却没有优秀的Marketing，主要原因当然与我们的抄袭的思维习惯有关，因此我们从未深入理清Marketing应该哪些事儿。在下先从外延上让大家看一看Marketing都与什么有关。   二、Marketing应该干哪些事儿呢？（以半导体通路商为例）   第一，Marketing要了解整个市场的状况，包括以下几大要素：   要素一，市场总量（TAM）： 这个市场产品总的量有多大？如手机一年全球生产了多少只？中国一年生产了多少只？中国2010年汽车生产了多少辆等。要有全局观念，才会知道自己这只鸟是在多大的林子里。   要素二，主要客户及客户生态： 这个市场里都有哪些主力品牌、生产商或制造商。如照明市场主力客户除欧美的飞利浦、欧思朗、GE外本土客户有浙江阳光、中山雪莱特、佛山照明、雷仕等。作为一个Marketing需要在进入这个行业之初就能基本了解到他们，并且花费时间不能太长。目的就是先有老鹰的视界，而不是拱猪的盲目。这些对每一个人都不难，但难的是要明白为什么是这些。   要素三，主要供应商或品牌： 这个市场内都有哪些主力方案、器件供应商。这是一个半导体通路Marketing的最核心业务内容。如汽车电子行业国内最主力IC供应商：飞思卡尔、英飞凌、ST、NXP等，Marketing必须非常清楚。   要素四，主要器件通路商： 除了自家代理商之外，还有哪些元器件通路商在这个林子里边混。一般的Marketing对同行了解多不多似乎没差什么，但在一些重大的、关键的决策与判断关头对竞争对手了解清楚的Marketing会有更准确、合理的判断与决策，知己知彼的重要性高下立见。   要素五，各环节行情、行业专业知识及产业瓶颈与技术关键： 入门的Marketing在上手之后，算刚学完一点点基础课，还要深入学习专业课，行业专业知识、各环节的一些行情要了解更清楚才会更专业。例如在节能灯行业，如果不了解荧光灯三基色粉行情就不会知道最近稀土涨价对节能灯市场及LED市场有什么样的影响。 不仅如此，专业知识及产业技术关键更是一个Marketing必须掌握的。因为产业技术关键或技术瓶颈决定了产业的未来发展走向、更决定了未来的商业模式。例如，前几年LED专家还乐观预测高亮LED会完全占领汽车头灯市场，然而因为LED的炫光问题使其而难以被汽车行业用于头灯，使得大家又重新定位氙灯的市场。 更加需要注意的是，市场的技术瓶颈或关键门槛并不全是电子技术或IC技术，很多技术瓶颈出自行业本身一些基础工艺与技术问题。如变频洗衣机行业的技术难点并不在变频控制技术，因为变频空调、变频冰箱的变频控制技术已经成熟，它的难点在变频直驱电机。其工艺与技术掌握在日本人手中，而且也还没成熟，也就没法大规模量产。 再如，数码相机市场的Marketing都盼着国产数码相机产量能上演山寨手机的历史，希望国产数码相机成为主流。他们期盼了十多年，数码相机相素从百来万到现在的上千万，电子技术突飞猛进，但国产、包括台湾品牌数码相机也一直没突破，他们的产业预测因此年年都不对。其背后的真正原因是数码技术虽然都国产了，但数码相机的光学部分是慢工细活，浮躁的国产业者没有抄来。而光学效果的影响远比相素的提高大得多，因此尽管我们能玩手机山寨大戏，而且联发科也把数码相机再次做了Turnkey方案，但照样没有推动数码相机的山寨化。说明背后的问题就是非电子数码技术的光学部分是产业关键。 笔者感觉当前在业内真的没有多少Marketing对这部分内容了解得够彻底，因此也是当前我们的Marketing需要提高的。   要素六，政策环境： 市场的走向也要看当地政策的具体情况，相当多行业都或多或少地需要当地或行业政策的支持或规范，这是不能忽略的因素，当然也是Marketing必须做的必修课，就不多赘述了。   要素七，了解主要行业媒体宣传圈子、主要行业信息咨询机构及其信息资料： 不了解媒体就不了解宣传，就不了解信息流，就不容易快速了解主流。 所有企业都需要宣传自己，都有自己的销售受众，如何向这些销售受众传递信息依赖相关各种媒体。每个客户都有自己的行业，各行业都有相应的媒体平台为这些企业做宣传。做Marketing的如果不了解这些媒体就不能了解自己客户都如何宣传自己的，也就不了解这个行业都有哪些有实力的客户在媒体平台上露面，也就不容易快速找到行业主力客户，也就很难成为老鹰。不能高效成为老鹰就不够精力选择重点客户拱优秀的猪，也就不容易赢得全局。 例如在半导体器件这一行国际上有很多先进的行业咨询调研机构也能给出很多行业数据信息，对我们很有帮助。如Gartner, IC Insight, iSupply等等。做Marketing的最好对这些机构的出身背景、历史沿革、强项产业都进行一番了解会更好。   要素八，熟悉行业内技术高手、设计公司等技术资源： 多数行业要依赖技术，依赖技术高手及相关的设计公司，这些技术高手多数接触并了解行业的关键问题，是真正的行家里手，有这些技术人脉会让你更清楚地把握行业关键。更有甚者，熟悉行业内相关的设计公司能够帮助分销商找到策略合作伙伴，无论是为下游客户穿针引线还是帮原厂找驱动程序合作第三方都对商业推广是益处的。   第二，Marketing要了解自身阵营的优劣势。包括以下几个要点：   要点一，自己产品的技术优劣点 这是Marketing的必修课，自己产品特点的第一要素就是技术性能，自家的产品哪里强、哪里弱当然要清清楚楚。而且这其中劣势部分更重要，Marketing要扬长避短、因优劣势而利导之才是合格的Marketing。   要点二，成本优劣点 市场之所以是市场，就因为不仅有性能，还有价格杠杆。性能不优但价格低依然能在市场中生存，而且在市场中多数情况是正金字塔分布，也就是价格低的产品往往销售量最大。对于一个分销商层面的Marketing，产品的成本往往是攥在原厂的Marketing或Sales手中，他们想怎样操作往往是不容易把握的。但这不代表自己就不能对大方向进行判断了，因为有些器件从架构上分析成本明明很低，但原厂就是不着急放价格，这时我们要坚定产品成本本质，留好成本空间，配合原厂打好这张牌。这就要求Marketing要对器件工艺、性能、成本非常有概念，但Marketing不等于工程师，笔者见过这样的：自己不是技术出身但经常找技术高手过问这类问题，这些应该算是很有心的Marketing。   要点三，推广易化 器件有竞争力不代表就容易推广所向披靡了。产品应用设计越复杂越不容易推广，越需要分销商层面付出更多努力促成产品的畅销。例如，一些解码卡芯片本身功能很强，但原厂没有配置人力写驱动程序，芯片的推广就陷入了困境，这时有的代理商请人写的驱动程序，解决了这个困难，降低了推广难度。 造成推广难的问题还有诸如：产品没有成功案例客户不敢第一个吃螃蟹、没有参考设计客户更换动力不足需要吃现成的、样品申请周期长客户嫌态度不积极等。这些都要Marketing做相应的准备与资源配置，创造条件、降低推广难度，顺利开拓市场。 随便举个例子，像三菱、英飞凌这样的公司样品申请流程非常严格而且很漫长，必须要有客户且要注明项目名称而且要层层审批，而且数量控制还严格得抠门，这对推广产品的时效性造成很大负面影响。这时Marketing是不是应当用变通的办法提前多填几家客户，多申请些样品，达到能够在推广现场当面给出样品的能力（当然要不要个个都给样品是另外一回事），再事后补单，冲回所欠样品 。这类的操作可如法炮制，就能易化推广的难度，提升推广的效率。 在此也给大家出道小实战题：原厂要求送的样品要收费，而且公司与原厂财务帐目都完全规范化，必须支付。但当你去客户处时遇到问题：客户说你家竞争对手某某代理商就不收样品费，客户工程部门没有财务权，申请费用手续太麻烦影响开发效率，再说这点样品也没几个钱，你们公司就出不了这个钱吗？云云。面对这个矛盾，你会怎样处理呢？（没有最佳答案，只有更好答案。）   要点四，把握自己团队的技术支持能力合理利用 公司有技术支持团队当然是好事，代表公司有技术实力、有技术支持能力，原厂当然喜欢。但做为一个优秀的Marketing不是事事都接来丢给技术团队，市场上有很多客户、很多案子，如果不加选择地统统甩给技术团队会让最关键的客户的最关键的案子被拖延从而造成负面影响。因此，好的Marketing应该充分评估自家技术支持团队的人力与能力范围，合理调度，发挥最大效益。 以上知己的内容看来不难，但要做好会很花精力，这是考验Marketing工作认真与否的重要内容。   第三，除了知己当然还要知彼，Marketing还要了解竞争对手的必要信息。包括以下几个主要信息：   信息一，主要竞争对手的品牌 Marketing理所应当清楚业内竞争对手的品牌及其市场份额，这是最基本的看家功课，不再赘述。   信息二，竞争对手产品的优劣点 知己知彼方能百战不殆，了解了自家产品的优劣点之当然还要了解竞争对手的产品细节。自家与竞争对手的产品对比分析报告或替换表是Marketing必须设法为销售团队准备好的。如果原厂没准备好必须自己完成，这时又需要发挥技术人脉关系的重要作用了。 有了竞争对手产品的细节就能做SWOT分析了。这是现代营销理论中最常用的分析方法。SWOT包含Strength(自家产品的优势), Weakness(自家产品的劣势), Opportunity(自家产品的机会点), Threaten(未来的危胁)四大方面。其中Opportunity是指自家产品的机会定位而不是有没有机会，经常会有Marketing的报告产生混淆，SWOT就是通过敌我的优劣点罗列分析来定位自家产品在金字塔中的位置的一个推理、演绎过程。这是产品市场定位的必定要做的功课，其中最重要的是敌我双方产品数据的周详度，也就是拼Marketing的认真程度。   信息三，主要竞争对手及自己产品的竞争代理商 我们许多Marketing往往对通路商竞争对手了解得不多，只知其名，不察其详。在竞争对手何时屯货何时割肉突围都不了解的情况下，市场的把握就很难说可控了，说不定堆了一堆库存都毫无察觉。   信息四，竞争对手的市场表现 这是在操作面上考察竞争对手市场销售能力是不是很贼、很毒、很强悍的一个信息方面。了解竞争对手的销售特点与习性也是我们要准备的。   第四，Marketing还要对行业内客户本身及其下游市场了如指掌。主要包含以下几个方面：   方面一，了解客户及其下游的成品进出货价格行情、人均产能、平均毛利率等信息。这些都是与上游市场息息相关的行情数据，了解透彻能让Marketing对市场把握更准确、周全。   方面二，了解下游客户的行业游戏潜规则、道德风气、圈内秩事等。这样有助于进行销售策略制定，也有助于进行客户的策略筛选，优化客户结构。   方面三，通过下游表现进行客户核心竞争力分析 多数人不认为进行客户核心竞争力有什么必要性。笔者认为相对Marketing眼前许多重要任务来说，这个工作看似很不紧要，但对长远来说非常重要，什么叫有眼光，这类问题就是眼光性的问题。 为什么这样说呢？因为客户的核心竞争力分析是分销商客户资源拼图组合战略决策思维的关键问题。选择的客户有没有核心竞争力往往不能仅仅从产品销量简单下结论，必须了解其核心能力。因为世上很少有熟透了的枣挂在路边的树上的这类好事，好客户在它发育起来之前培养是事半功倍的。再有，核心竞争力不强的客户即使销售量大也要做好能脱身的准备，以免造成坏帐风险。   方面四，了解客户的下游销售区域、淡旺季等行业特点及实时变化，把握市场脉搏。只有将下游的行业特点及实时行情摸准了，才能不被某些客户的花言巧语所蒙蔽而造成forecast错误。从而实质性保证forecast的准确性，从而提高公司对原厂forecast的准确性，提高经济效益。有关forecast准确性的意义请参见笔者的相关博客：   营销功课：Forecast准确度高低有什么意义？ 。因此，提高forecast准确度的有效手段之一就是这要将下游客户信息了解透彻。   方面五，了解本行业客户的量产周期与开发周期，把握产品推广的最佳时间段。 每个行业都有其自身的销售的淡旺季，如手机除四月底有个五一概念小高峰外，主力旺季是从八月中到转年的春节后。过了销售的旺季，相应地在淡季客户会开始为下一季进行新产品、新项目立项开案。多数客户过了这段时间后就不大会轻易上新项目、新案子了。 多数手机公司会在旺季时忙于量产、抢单、抢备货，这时期开新案非常少，如果你选择这个时间杀入并计划抢到主流份额就可能会事倍功半，难于达到目的。合理的时间点应该是四月中下旬到七月底前，各手机公司纷纷开始规划新机种，为八月份冲量做准备。这个时间点是新方案、新产品、新平台介入的最理想时间点，可达到事半功倍的效果。   不同的产品、不同的行业，它的淡旺季周期会有所不同，但旺季忙产、淡季规划的特点是差不多的。Marketing要有清晰的客户立项周期的敏感度，把握好开发节奏，将推广效果最佳化。     了解客户虽然说本是以客户关系为本业的销售人员的工作，但Marketing要有很强的下游产业概念，进行行业归纳，因此是从全局的角度看下游客户，侧重点有所不同。   以上四大类内容基本上都属于Marketing该干哪些事的纸上谈兵范畴，要成为优秀的Marketing当然要刻苦学习必修功课，但还要建立相应的必要的市场规律观念。 （未完，待下）     （本文投稿于“国际电子商情网站2011年博文大赛”）       怎样才能成为一个优秀的Marketing?(中)   2011国际电子商情博文大赛——电子职业之路 已经启动，详情 我眼中的NOKIA手机 Cost down 的意义是什么 怎样才能成为一个优秀的Marketing 2011下半年电子元器件的销售应对技巧 我非传奇——记忆中的销售之路 中国农村市场为什么就不能发展太阳能等洁净能源？