“If you don’t strive for the first place, you will be confused.” How can agricultural machinery companies become the first in the industry?

Under the strong influence of Weichai's culture of "not fighting for the first place" and "taking two and a half days out of one day", the reorganized Weichai Lovol performed very well in the first half of the year. It is said that the sales volume and sales volume were year-on-year. Both have increased by 60%. Weichai Lovol has swept away its sluggishness, become vibrant again and achieved impressive results. This allows us to see the power of a strong corporate culture.

"If you don't fight for the first place, you will be a mess." This slogan is very good, and the market economy itself is not about survival of the fittest. If you don't advance, you will retreat. If you don't fight for the first place, there will be no future. If you get to the first place, you must never slack off. So the question is Now, in the agricultural machinery industry that has fallen into the Red Sea, how can we become number one?

1. Absolute sales leads to absolute number one

The real number one must be the number one in sales. In market competition, number one in sales is often better than number one in sales. It is more important to be first in profit. Only by having the first market share can we achieve economies of scale, have the largest market share and enjoy the dividends of the Matthew effect.

Therefore, the initial and final goals of agricultural machinery companies in market competition should be unified, which is to strive to be the first in the market.

To become number one, you must first maintain sustained growth, and it must be higher than the average growth rate of the industry and the growth rate of competitors. The inherent attribute of sales is growth, and only growth can last forever. In this Domestic companies should learn from Jiangsu Wode.

For 8 consecutive years, Wode has maintained the first place in the all-feed rice combine harvester industry. Every time Wode enters a new field and launches a new product, it will achieve sales breakthroughs faster than its competitors. Currently, Wode ranks among the top three in the industry or has the strength to enter the top three in the industry in categories such as rice transplanters, balers, plant protection machines, tractors, sugarcane combine harvesters, and wheat combine harvesters. The secret to Wode's success is absolute of sales.

The author observes that every time Wode enters a new field, it always launches products quickly, is not afraid of problems, constantly iterates in market verification, and finally has a competitive product that has been rigorously tested by the market. Products such as rice transplanters, balers, etc.

World entered the rice transplanter market around 2015. At that time, the rice transplanter industry was very stable. The three Japanese brands, Kubota, Yanmar and Iseki, had an absolute monopoly, but opportunities always existed. Just grasp the weaknesses of your competitors and do better than your competitors.

Wode has no advantages in making rice transplanters. Wode quickly launched prototypes based on learning from domestic and foreign competitors and quickly launched them into the Northeast market. The quality, structure, service, etc. of the first batch of prototypes There are many problems, and the rate of returned machines is very high. Wode quickly improved its products and services based on market feedback. In the second year, it increased production and increased the number of machines put on the market. However, the market is still not recognized, and there are still a large number of returned machines. The phenomenon occurred. This time, more feedback information was collected, and product improvements were more targeted. In the third year, iteration machines were put into the market in larger quantities. Although there is still a phenomenon of machine returns and exchanges, the proportion is already very small.

When the author visited the market in Heilongjiang and Jilin in the spring of 2021, users had already recognized domestic rice transplanters such as Wode and Xingyueshen. The market feedback was that the quality of Wode’s machines was becoming more and more stable. , the price-performance ratio is very high, and users are willing to buy it, making it a strong substitute for Japanese products.

In 2020, Wode rice transplanters achieved good results of 4,000 high-speed rice transplanters and 6,000 hand-held rice transplanters. According to information obtained from the supply chain, the stock volume of Wode high-speed rice transplanters in 2021 is 7,000. Taiwan, if it develops at this rate, in less than 3 years, World will surpass Japanese brands in the rice transplanter industry and become the number one in the industry. By then, the story of the all-feed rice combine harvester will repeat itself.

2. Create a new category and become number one

Being caught in the red ocean of competition, companies are struggling to survive. Survival is the biggest strategy, so they have no intention of competing for number one.

It is not easy to overtake in corners. It is easier to become the first if you create your own track. Specifically, it means creating a new category in your own industry, seizing market opportunities, and pushing yourself to the first place. the throne.

Becoming number one through innovative categories, there is a very vivid and typical case in the agricultural machinery industry:

After Hunan Longzhou Company lost the competition of full-feed rice combine harvester , combined the chassis of a rice combine harvester and a paddy field rotary tiller to create an agricultural machine called a self-propelled rotary tiller, thus creating a new category. Longzhou is the founder of this type of rotary tiller and is recognized as It was the first in the industry. Later, this product became an independent product category and was accepted by the national agricultural machinery purchase subsidy system. It was positioned as a self-propelled crawler rotary tiller. In 2020, the sales volume of self-propelled rotary tillers exceeded 50,000 units. , this product can actually also be called a special tractor for paddy fields.

3. Become the number one in the industry through price war

Pricing determines the world! Price war can be the lowest competitive method or the most brilliant competitive method. Price war is a kind of ability. Weak companies can initiate price wars, but they cannot enjoy the results of price. Those who really benefit from price wars are those who Enterprises that have the strength to initiate a price war and have the ability to carry it out to the end will eventually drive out many competitors and become the industry leader.

There are many domestic companies that are good at price wars. Galanz and Shuanghui are the best among them. These two companies have wiped out almost all their competitors through long-term and sustained price wars. The basis for the price war is excellent cost control capabilities, and cost control capabilities come from scale. The quality of the products of these two companies exceeds those of their competitors, but the prices are lower than fake and shoddy products. There is no reason for users not to choose Galanz microwave ovens and Shuanghui As for the ham sausage, the prices of Galanz and Shuanghui are still the lowest in the industry so far, and most of their competitors have been eliminated.

There are also experts in price wars in the agricultural machinery industry, such as Xingyue Shen in the high-speed rice transplanter industry. This brand focuses on high-speed rice transplanters. The company’s strategy is to sell high-speed rice transplanters at the same price as hand-held rice transplanters and replace hand-held rice transplanters with low-priced high-speed rice transplanters. According to what the author learned in the Northeast market this year, The company's gasoline version of the 6-row high-speed rice transplanter only costs 27,000 yuan after subsidies, and the factory also provides a side-deep fertilization device. This price is not much related to the hand-held rice transplanter.

The company’s strategy is correct. In recent years, the proportion of hand-held rice transplanters in China has been continuously decreasing. The company’s high-speed rice transplanters have become the number one domestic brand and are currently impacting the sales of Kubota and Yanmar. market, the company's goal is to become the number one in the domestic high-speed rice transplanter industry.

4. Become an individual champion in subdivided fields

In the book "Hidden Champions-Pioneers of Future Globalization", the author of the book, Shulman Simon, said, "Only focus can Become the first class. Anyone who tries to win gold medals in both the 100 meters and the marathon will fail in both events, where concentration is an indispensable condition for optimal performance.

Subdivisions become. A single champion is to become number one in a sub-industry within a large industry, but it is best to be in an industry that is not fully competitive or has not been discovered by opponents. Some sub-industries will become large industries through careful cultivation. < /p>

5. Become the No. 1 with the largest sales volume of a single model

In large category industries such as tractors and combine harvesters, we must become Yituo Dongfanghong, Lovol Heavy Industry, and World Agricultural Equipment. It is difficult to create an industry leader with strong comprehensive strength. It is not achieved overnight, but requires long-term efforts and great industry opportunities. These companies have outstanding comprehensive strength and are all-round players. Generally, it is difficult to copy and comprehensive. surpass, but in a certain segment or link, small companies can also surpass large companies and become the number one in the industry.

For example, in 2020, Huaxia became the sales champion of 1804 tractors.

1804 tractors are the mainstream power segment with large demand in China. In 2020, the industry sold a total of 17,700 units, achieving sales of 3.69 billion yuan. The top ten best-selling 1804 brands sold 9,500 units, accounting for 10% of the total sales. 54%, of which Shandong Weifang Huaxia Company sold 1,600 units of 1804, accounting for nearly 10%, becoming the single champion in this power segment. In addition, Huaxia's share of high-horsepower tractors such as 2004, 2104, and 2204 is also at the forefront, showing that Huaxia is in the forefront. Overall strength on a high-horsepower tractor.

Although there is a certain gap between Huaxia and Yituo Dongfanghong and Weichai Lovol in terms of overall strength, in the field of tractors with 180 horsepower and above, Huaxia has outstanding cost performance and strong competitive advantages. Especially the 1804 horsepower has an absolute advantage. It is also the first in a single model. As long as the company digs deeply and consciously publicizes the advantages of this single link, it will also have a great boost to the sales of the company. .

6. Become No. 1 through professional focus and ability

Michael Porter, a well-known strategic marketing expert, believes that there are only three corporate strategies: cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, and professionalism. In general, large companies are suitable for using cost leadership strategy, while small companies are suitable for using differentiation and specialization strategies.

Simon said in "Hidden Champions" that for hidden champions, professionalism and focus are the most important. Hidden champions have an average of 22 years of market leadership experience. Their persistence in the market shows their high concentration and focus. Stability, many hidden champions are undergoing a process of normalization, which is the reverse process of diversification.

Specialization requires companies to become unique experts in a segmented industry or even a certain link, and to continue to innovate and make progress, becoming a true expert that is “always imitated and never surpassed”.

7. Become No. 1 in the local area by deeply cultivating the regional market

We can divide domestic agricultural machinery companies into three categories: The first category is national strong dragons, such as Yituo Dongfanghong , Weichai Lovol, Kubota, etc.; the second category is regional local snakes, such as Scrap Iron, Sichuan Dragon, etc.; the third category is earthworms (also called earthworms) that "have sales but no market".

Number one should have the concepts of time and space. There is number one in the national market and number one in the regional market. Number one in a specific small market is also number one. We put this This kind of first place can be called a local snake-style first place. As the saying goes, "a strong dragon cannot overpower a local snake." Strong regional enterprises have very strong survivability. The biggest advantage of such enterprises is that they have a stable base market. In the past ten years, Looking at the development history of domestic agricultural machinery, we cannot take it for granted that the last company to survive will be the strong dragon. Many local companies have transformed from local snakes in one place to local snakes in multiple places, and will eventually become national strong dragons.

Zhengzhou Longfeng is a company with a 20-year history of plow manufacturing, but it has always been unknown among thousands of agricultural machinery companies. Starting around 2010, Zhengzhou Longfeng decided to abandon other small markets and focus on deep cultivation. In the Xinjiang market, we first started with imitation and learning, and then moved from following to innovating. After spending several hundred yuan on technology research and development, Longfeng’s products finally stood out in the Xinjiang market, which is known as the “graveyard” of global plows. Starting from 2015, R series, then B series, to L series, have been launched in the Xinjiang market. In recent years, they have been the sales champion of similar products in the Xinjiang market at home and abroad. Some of the main products and market strategies have been replaced by Layken, Learn from major multinational brands such as Nadi and Besson.

Zhengzhou Longfeng’s efforts broke the myth that multinational companies such as Lecon, Besson, and Grande “have always been imitated and never surpassed” in the Chinese market, and at the same time ended the myth that “China cannot create The century-old embarrassment of "a good plow" provided the national agricultural machinery industry with a model to catch up and boosted national confidence.

Zhengzhou Longfeng has obviously chosen the most difficult path to take. Taking the lead in the Xinjiang market, known as the "graveyard" of global plows, has laid a solid foundation for later national market expansion and resale to foreign markets. the basis of.

8. High-density and high-frequency promotion to achieve the first place in sales

Most of the above mentioned are the strategic choices of enterprises, which belong to the category of "Tao", but in the end, enterprises Winning in the market should be based on "technical" efforts in the generally correct direction. This involves marketing methods. The most useful tool in marketing is the "4P", which is product, price, channel and promotion. , Promotion is sales promotion. For agricultural machinery companies, the simplest and most practical promotional tool is promotion demonstration activities.

There is a well-known dealer in the agricultural machinery industry, Zhengzhou Luyeyuan. The company went from Fugou County, Henan to the whole country. It took less than ten years for the company to grow from sales of several million to 4.5 billion. The key to success is to build a large single-product package into a national pesticide brand through conference marketing. The main job of Luyeyuan salesmen is to hold on-site meetings, symposiums and promotion demonstrations. The average salesperson of the company must reach 200 , the bottom line is 100 meetings. The company holds more than 100,000 various meetings a year, which shows its emphasis and high density of meeting marketing. Through this simple and easy marketing method, it has become the strongest distributor in the domestic pesticide industry. .

The promotion demonstration held by Shenzhen DJI Technology in the agricultural machinery industry can also be regarded as a model for the industry.

Shenzhen DJI is a high-tech company, but when promoting plant protection drones in China, the company did not adopt the high-tech marketing methods of high-tech companies. Instead, it adopted the most "local" marketing methods. Promotional demonstration meeting. In 2020, DJI mobilized dealers to organize more than 750 promotion demonstration meetings in county-level markets. DJI requires that every county in the area covered by DJI products conduct at least one promotion demonstration meeting. DJI Promotion in 2021 The goal of the demonstration is 1,500. By promoting the demonstration, DJI will lock in more than 40% of the orders for the second year before its competitors during the Spring Festival every year. After the year, its main job is to organize production and supply, and through high-end Through intensive, high-density, and full-coverage promotion demonstrations, DJI’s products entered rice fields, orchards, greenhouses, and cotton fields, seizing users’ minds and helping DJI defeat countless competitors and become the leader in the domestic plant protection drone industry. Brother takes the lead.

9. Become the number one through capital integration

Capital is a higher level of competition. When companies complete primitive accumulation and need to become bigger and stronger, they often rely on their own rolling development. It is difficult to realize the corporate vision, and the interaction of capital and strength can accelerate development.

Judging from the development history of the Global 500, different companies have benefited from the help of capital at different times. The real big companies buy big rather than grow bigger.

The same is true for the agricultural machinery industry. Real big companies must be driven by both industrial and capital forces, such as John Deere, Case New Holland, AGCO, Claas, Kubota, Yanmar, and Yituo Dongfang Hong Kong is a listed company. The reason why DJI can achieve rapid development is inseparable from the financial support of more than 1 billion yuan from dozens of investment institutions.

By acquiring Carnegie Steel Company and annexing 785 small and medium-sized steel companies, JP Morgan ended the long-term melee in the U.S. steel industry and established the famous U.S. Steel Company, with assets of US$1.5 billion, the world's largest steel company. The first company in the world with assets of more than US$1 billion, controlling 70% of U.S. steel production; Durant ended the history of fighting among hundreds of automobile companies in the U.S. market by promoting the merger of more than 200 automobile companies into General Motors, reaching an agreement Cooperate with Ford to control the order of the automobile industry.

Famous quote from industrial history: Columbus discovered the New World, but it was JP Morgan who reorganized it! The domestic agricultural machinery industry is looking forward to Chinese-style JP Morgan, Rockefeller, and Durant.

At present, the domestic agricultural machinery industry is in a dark state. There are dozens or even thousands of competitive brands in each sub-category. The combined output value of nearly 10,000 agricultural machinery companies is less than one-third of John Deere. Second, the disorderly competition environment will inevitably lead to disorder and long-term internal friction in the industry, which will ultimately slow down the development of China's agricultural machinery industry and make the dream of catching up with the national agricultural machinery industry come to nothing.

Only moderate concentration and orderly competition can ensure normal profits in the industry and protect the enthusiasm of enterprises in technology, research and development, management, investment, etc. Domestic agricultural machinery enterprises need to actively embrace capital and introduce capital through independent listings. To obtain capital support through other forms, learn from American AGCO to carry out large-scale and high-density industrial mergers and acquisitions to eliminate competitors and promote industry reshuffle. The company becomes the number one in the industry and eventually builds a powerful enterprise and industrial empire.

Conclusion: The essence of market distribution is competition and striving for the top. In a competitive environment, it is difficult to be the tail even if you are not the head of the chicken. The domestic agricultural machinery industry will quickly complete the long-tail integration and become a "strong player" In the orderly competition stage of "Hengqiang", in the process of industry integration, the mortality rate of enterprises may be as high as 90%-99.9%. If enterprises want to change their destiny, they must be the first to grab a place for themselves and gain entry before the final pattern of the industry arrives. As a "passport" for the next industrial cycle, it is recommended that domestic agricultural machinery companies learn from Weichai Power's cultural philosophy of "not striving for first place, but being mixed", "taking two and a half days a day", using time to exchange space, and becoming the first is the biggest Amulets, from ancient times to the present, it is difficult to be eliminated if one can become the number one without making mistakes.