● No matter how high and thick a barrel is, as long as there is a board that is not high enough on the barrel wall, the capacity of the barrel is determined by this board that is not high enough. In this regard, some people call it the "barrel theory." An iron drum, no matter how thick and strong its wall is, becomes waste if there is a small hole as big as a grain of rice at the bottom. This phenomenon may be called "iron drum theory". Buckets are made for water, and water represents buckets. If there are eyes, water will flow away. There is no doubt about it. From this, I thought of other places. Some units and departments have racked their brains to formulate rules and regulations. I don't know how many meetings were held, how much manuscript paper was used, and how many words were spoken by the leaders. It seems that this regulation and articles of association are strict and solemn, solemn and solemn, as watertight as iron drums! Unfortunately, there is also a small "eye" at the invisible bottom, so solemnity has become a child's play, solemnity has become casual, and the system is stuck on the wall like waste paper. At that time, Zhuge Liang made great efforts to govern the Central Plains. Unfortunately, it was the "eye" of the street pavilion that made him sing the "empty city plan". One careless move almost lost the game. The embankment of a thousand miles, collapsed in the ant nest, the same is true. A bean curd dregs project almost destroyed Jiujiang city. A grain of mouse excrement spoils a pot of porridge. Old sins create new shame. The ancients said: "One mind can't be controlled, and the disaster flows into the sky", which means that there can't be "eyes" on the "iron bucket". The "eyes" on some "iron drums" are sparse in casting technology, which has buried hidden dangers; Some are caused by man-made axes and drills. We can know from real life that thieves who drill holes often destroy themselves by destroying iron drums. Ma Su hurt the Shu army, so did Shu not hurt himself? Cheng,, and two senior officials all got out of the "iron bucket", didn't they even lose their lives? Or the common people say well, "Skynet is long, sparse but not leaking". It is unfortunate that wooden barrels have small eyes, but the reasons for the formation and existence of small eyes are very complicated. There are material problems, production technology problems and quality problems, but in the final analysis, they are all human problems: level, ability, method and so on. Zhuge Liang thought of Ma Su's mistake, but he was lucky. Visible, Ma Su this material, you stubbornly do "barrel", you must do "eye".

Effective Time Management Skills ―― Iron Barrel Theory

Zhang Jiping

Theory comes from practice, so let's start with practice-demonstration!

Material preparation:

An iron bucket, a bucket of stones, gravel, fine sand and water.

Demonstration goal: how to put stones, gravel, fine sand and water into an iron drum at the same time?

Demonstration process:

First, fill the iron drum with water. As a result, we found that none of the other three could fit in.

Second, first fill the iron drum with fine sand. As a result, we found that stones and gravel could not be put in except water.

3. First fill the iron drum with gravel, then slowly pour the fine sand on the gravel surface and slowly shake the iron drum. After about half a minute, there was no fine sand on the surface of the iron drum. Then, slowly pour the water into the iron drum, and finally, completely pour out the water.

4. First put the stone into the iron drum, then slowly pour the stone on the surface of the stone and slowly shake the iron drum. In a short time, the gravel was completely packed into the iron drum. In the same way, you can put all the fine sand into the iron drum, and finally, you can put all the water into the iron drum.

Theoretical explanation:

1, the maximum capacity of this iron drum symbolizes the maximum workload of a person in a period of time. Gravel symbolizes something important and urgent, stone symbolizes something important and not urgent, fine sand symbolizes something urgent and not important, and water symbolizes something neither important nor urgent. The classification table is as follows:

urgent

Don't worry

heavy

ask

A (gravel services)

L crisis

L urgent problem

Plans under deadline pressure

B (stone affairs)

L system, plan and planning

Explore new opportunities

L building partnerships

I nip in the bud.

no

heavy

ask

Fine sand trading

L receive uninvited guests

Handle some letters, documents and telephone calls.

L attend certain meetings

L some necessary but not important meetings and activities

D (water resources affairs)

L some housework that should or should not be done

L some unnecessary entertainment

Interesting activity

This experiment tells us that if the iron drum is full of gravel, sand and water, you will never have a chance to put stones in it. But if you put the stone in first, there will be a lot of unexpected space left in the iron bucket. Therefore, efficient time management requires you to distinguish what a stone is. What are gravel, sand and water? Always put the stone first.

People who are busy with gravel affairs all day are always under pressure, always dealing with crises and cleaning up the mess, so they are exhausted. People who focus on things like sand usually lack self-control, have serious short-term behavior, and like sweet words and vague interpersonal relationships. People who focus on water and other matters have no sense of responsibility at all, and I am afraid it is difficult to make a living.

Only those who focus on things like stones are truly efficient people. He is good at sizing up the situation, can grasp the key to the problem, can't be anxious, make a decisive decision and nip in the bud. Although there are urgent needs sometimes, we can minimize them. So such people have foresight, ideals and discipline. Strong self-control, regular life balance, can achieve great things.

5. Q: Will gravel be delayed because of the emphasis on stones? Because rubble is urgent after all!

A: Gravel itself is composed of crushed stone. People who focus on things like stones will have little gravel. People who focus on things like gravel will have a steady stream of gravel.

Economic crisis VS iron drum theory

In 2008, it was hot and cold.

In 2008, agricultural enterprises in China were like a dream, and the situation of "roller coaster" made agricultural enterprises from great joy to great sorrow. Prices soared in the first half of the year, reaching the highest increase since 1995 13 years; In the second half of the year, the market changed suddenly, prices soared and the industry fluctuated greatly.

Take urea as an example, 2008 was the year with the largest fluctuation range in history, exceeding 40%, while the normal fluctuation range was around 20%. In the first half of the year, prices rose all the way. In July, the ex-factory price of many urea enterprises has reached 2,500 yuan (ton price, the same below), with the high price exceeding 2,600 yuan, and the high wholesale price of the market is close to the 3,000 yuan mark, all of which have reached record highs, and the market is very hot. However, since August, urea prices have been falling all the way. By the end of the year, the ex-factory price of urea was mostly 1.560- 1.700 yuan, and the wholesale market price was mostly 1.650- 1.800 yuan. The decline rate is generally higher than that of 800 yuan, and the market demand has obviously cooled down, which is quite deserted.

Compared with the last two and a half years, it can be said that it is hot and cold.

In 2009, the nightmare struck.

From 2000 to 2006, the subprime mortgage market developed rapidly because of the booming real estate market and low interest rates in the United States. However, with the cooling of American real estate market and the sharp increase of short-term interest rate, the repayment rate of subprime mortgage has also risen sharply, and the repayment pressure of buyers has greatly increased. At the same time, the continuous cooling of the housing market also makes it difficult for buyers to sell their houses or refinance through mortgaged houses. This situation directly leads to a large number of borrowers with subprime mortgage loans can not repay on time, which in turn leads to "subprime mortgage crisis". Then, driven by the butterfly effect, at the end of 2008, it finally triggered a storm in the global financial market, and then evolved into a global economic crisis.

This global "financial tsunami" inevitably caused China agricultural enterprises to fall into greater panic, and all the industry giants and no one shouted the slogan of "wintering". Farmers' demand drops sharply, dealers wait and see with money, warehouse inventory is difficult to digest, and manufacturers' funds are difficult to withdraw. A new round of "beer game" in agricultural resources industry is intensifying. What should agricultural enterprises do?

At the beginning of the new year, everything should be completely new, but it is like a nightmare for agricultural enterprises.

Iron drum theory-Song Yufeng's advice to agricultural enterprises to "keep out the cold and spend the winter"

What should agricultural enterprises do in the face of the worst economic crisis in the history of 80 years? How to "keep out the cold and resist the winter"? Is it "radical" or "contraction"? Is it "positive response" or "inaction"?

Song Yufeng believes that although the current economic crisis is fierce, it is not helpless for enterprises. The key is to find the correct coping strategy and the appropriate breakthrough method of market breakthrough under the economic crisis. Summing up many years' experience, aiming at the current situation and combining with the market characteristics, I hope that the "iron drum theory" I have carefully summarized can become a golden book for agricultural enterprises to deal with the economic crisis.

What is the "iron drum theory"?

The guiding ideology of the so-called "iron drum theory" is: under the economic crisis environment, enterprises should shrink brand investment, cut expenses, open up new sources and reduce expenditure, carefully create marketing channels, make efforts through channels, rely on the general marketing channels of iron drums, win the initiative of the market, create a new situation in the economic crisis period, and win the initiative and benefits. In a word, it is: quietly do the channel and calm down to do the market.

The so-called "iron drum theory", its work content is: accurate segmentation, differentiated selling points, standardized marketing, vivid terminal and future promotion.

At the just-concluded product promotion meeting of Wynn Compound Fertilizer in 2009, a dealer friend from Fujian said excitedly to the manufacturer after attending the meeting: "Your operation planning is excellent, and the planning company is also very good. I am confident to do my market well and rank first in the first year. " We held his hand and smiled and said "Yes", and he quickly added, "To put it bluntly, he lost no time.

This is the unchangeable truth that still exists in the agricultural resources industry today: as long as the channels and terminals are willing, your products will sell well! The data show that in the major provinces with large demand for chemical fertilizers in China, such as Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, Henan and Zhejiang, etc. More than 85% farmers buy fertilizer and listen to the opinions and promotion of fertilizer sellers.

So from now on, please pay attention to your channel construction, the growth of your dealers and the needs of your terminal stores. You don't have much money to advertise, you don't have much money to print beautiful publicity materials and even set up gifts. However, these are not important at the current market stage. The important thing is to turn your network into an iron bucket, train your dealer team to be as loyal as employees, and regard the small boss of the terminal store as your friend. In this way,

The economic crisis may be a crisis for everyone, but it may be an opportunity for you.

Five boards of "iron drum theory"

The well-known "barrel theory" is also called "barrel law". Its core content is that the amount of water in a bucket does not depend on the tallest piece of wood on the bucket wall, but on the shortest piece on the bucket wall.

Our iron drum theory is to build five channel drums with the same length and strength to form an iron wall market drum. Through channels, enterprises can achieve marketing success and overcome immediate difficulties without investing heavily in advertising and promotion.

1, subdivision accuracy

The more in the economic crisis, the more it is necessary to carry out accurate marketing, find the right marketing direction, and strive not to waste marketing costs and resources. Subdivision of agricultural marketing is an inevitable trend, so why not take this opportunity to intensively cultivate?

In the era of economic crisis, enterprises should dig deep into their own resource advantages, find their own niche market, find the right direction, then subdivide the target market, determine the first, second and third level markets, determine the development order and the principle of heavy investment, find key target users in combination with local market conditions, carry out key development in the target market, establish their own strong revolutionary base areas, and implement the strategy of "region is king". It is worth noting that adhering to the road of developing key customers should be a basic principle that agricultural enterprises can't give up and ignore.

2. Differentiated selling points

How to sell products in the era of product homogenization? How to win market share and initiative in the economic crisis? The answer is: USP, a unique sales proposition.

A product has no unique sales proposition, and the core selling point of product differentiation is not obvious. Just as a person has no thoughts and personality, he will naturally not be favored by the market and recognized by the end users. Especially in the current situation, it is more necessary to have a selling point that can tear open the market gap to serve sales, rather than relying on a large number of advertisements and promotions to stimulate and drive market sales. For example, we define the functional orientation of Wynn compound fertilizer as "loosening soil and dredging soil", which has been recognized and sought after by the majority of dealers once it is launched.

3. Marketing standardization

Agricultural marketing can't be a business, and it can't be a business. Instead, it should be a real business, a business group (organizing dealers), implementing standardized management, improving efficiency and reducing costs.

The contents of standardized marketing management include "one picture", "one line", "two tables" and "four principles".

"A picture" is a "terminal network diagram". According to the nature and location of the terminal, draw the specific location and number in the map. Legend: omitted.

The "first line" is to design the working area and working route of business representatives according to the terminal distribution map and the principle of line optimization to prevent wasting time on the road of terminal maintenance. The terminal sequence and access frequency of the line are clearly drawn in the distribution map.

The "two forms" are "terminal file form" and "terminal maintenance record form". Through the filling of these two forms, the work content of the business personnel is clarified, including all the effective information that the sales work hopes to obtain. Specific legend: omitted.

The "four-fixed principle" means that fixed salesmen visit and maintain the terminal according to the plan according to the fixed route, fixed time and fixed outlets.

4. The terminal is very vivid

According to statistics, vivid terminal display can directly boost sales by 72.35%.

Vivid definition: let the product be displayed in front of consumers more vividly, make it easy to be recognized by consumers, attract consumers' attention, and thus get more opportunities to be bought.

Why should it be vivid? At present, the market competition is becoming more and more fierce. By establishing vivid standards, we can not only enhance the brand image of the company, but also let consumers see the orderly display style among many competing products, forming a strong visual impact, forming memories more easily and causing consumers to buy impulsively.

Vivid contents of the terminal: The contents of the terminal vividly displaying agricultural products include the door head, the way and position of product placement, the position and requirements of banner hanging, the placement of honorary certificates, fertilizer samples, publicity materials, the placement of Yi Labao, the hanging of oil painting canvas, etc.

5. Future promotion

It is impossible to promote sales, and giving gifts is also a very big expense and expense, especially in the era of economic crisis, when cash is king, a large amount of glistening money is very important to enterprises. So, what can be done to solve this contradiction?

A: Yes.

That is to do promotion in the present, put cash in the future, and skillfully solve the problem focus through time difference.

Promotion theme: sell * * * fat and win the mystery prize.

Reward content: Anyone who wins this prize can use the * * * fertilizer provided by the * * * manufacturer for free for life.

Reward method: each winner will report the required quantity and variety to the company before using fertilizer every year, and the company will send it to users' homes to guide users to use it before using fertilizer.

Detailed implementation rules: omitted.

The advantages of this scheme design are as follows: 1. Postpone the redemption time of the promotion prize to the future and share it year by year, thus avoiding the need to pay a large sum of money to redeem the prize in the economic crisis; Second, the winner can use fertilizer for free for life, which has great temptation and attraction and can achieve the purpose and effect of promotion; Three, the award-winning users can also be used as demonstration users, and can actively cooperate with the relevant publicity and promotion work; Fourth, innovation, out of the traditional promotion routine, easy to create momentum and attract large-scale participation.

Concluding remarks

In 2008, an unforgettable past, people who came out of the snowstorm just shook off the wind and frost, but there was earth-shattering news of Wenchuan. The vast sky cries, the earth mourns, and the suffering is already around us. It is so far away and so close at hand.

In 2008, an unforgettable and exciting moment, the Olympic dream that was expected for a hundred years was realized in the hot season, and Shenzhou VII also carried the expectations of Chinese people and soared. From the top of Kunlun Mountain to the coast of the East China Sea, many joys and sorrows vanished at this moment.

In 2008, as a prelude to efforts, Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest bank in the United States, closed down on September 14, announcing to the world that a financial tsunami had mercilessly attacked people.

In 2008, a well-deserved ox was still working quietly, pulling up polished plowshares with hard work and wisdom, working on widely acclaimed land, spreading hope one by one, hoping to write a new chapter with more partners.

At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, we can't help feeling the past year and facing up to this new year full of opportunities and challenges. This is also my real idea of writing this article, hoping to share good things with more people and bring enlightenment and inspiration to more people.