Snowball fortune-telling chart

It is not right to choose 7 kinds of iron laws, and the efforts are in vain.

First of all, choice is greater than effort.

Choose products like life! This is the iron law.

The founder's ability to choose categories and trajectories is an important manifestation of his leadership ability and an inseparable part of his strategic ability. In the previous era, the choice of products depended on life, and in this era, the choice of products depended on scientific judgment; Choosing products is not opportunistic, but long-term. Only by choosing large and thick snow trails can we really start snowballing for a long time.

Those founders who constantly change categories and blindly develop multiple categories all stem from using tactical diligence to cover up strategic laziness. 99% of Zhang Yong Zhang Dage chose hot pot to build Haidilao by life; Brother Guan's 99 created Taier pickled fish, changed a string of hot pots into Chongqing hot pot factory, and changed two egg pancakes into two fried chickens with eggs, which reflected the strategic judgment of the founder. Second, categories are inherently unequal. Think about consumer goods and choose brands. Many people have heard this sentence, but they may not understand it.

In fact, this sentence has three meanings: 1 The choice of consumers determines the size of the market. On the surface, the market is the result of the struggle of the founder team. In fact, it is the choice of consumers that determines the size of the market. This is the catering version of what Mr. Mao Zedong said: "People are the decisive force that determines the development of history". 2. Early categories are more important than brands. Category corresponds to demand and scenario, which is directly related to the size, frequency and even pricing of the market.

You can't sell steamed bread to the price of pizza, which is determined by the genes of the category, not the company's rhetoric. This is also what I often say, "Categories are inherently unequal."

The ultimate goal of the enterprise is to make your brand a representative of this category.

To this extent, when consumers choose a certain category, the first thing they think of is to choose you.

The motivation, inertia and dependence of this choice will become the moat of the brand.

Third, the category determines the business model.

Choosing different categories is doomed to choose what kind of model. Some categories can only be operated directly, such as dinner and hot pot with high service viscosity; Some categories are destined to join the chain, such as fast food and snacks.

The more contact points with customers, the higher the service requirements, and the more suitable for direct sales. On the contrary, the fewer contact points with customers, the less services, the more suitable for joining.

This is why I think it is a strategic mistake for Zhou Heiya to adopt the direct marketing model. It turns out that when he joined the company, the capital market gave him a higher valuation.

There is no right or wrong mode, high or low, only suitability.

Fourth, choose products such as choosing a wife.

The fate of a family often depends on a man's choice of his wife, and a virtuous wife is prosperous.

The fate of an enterprise often depends on the choice of its founder.

In the first half, the development of a brand often comes from the addition of categories. The tea, coffee and fast food we have seen in recent years.

The outbreak of categories has brought huge category dividends to the founders.

In the second half, the development of a brand often comes from the dividend of strategy and organization, that is, the founder team establishes a strong and agile organization, constantly pushes up the category potential, expands the category scale, and lifts the category ceiling.

Zege often said that people who make hot pot all over the world should thank Zhang Dage's team in Haidilao. It is their intelligence, diligence, persistence and constant innovation that have opened the ceiling of the hot pot category.

In the first half, hot pot made Zhang Dage, and in the second half, Zhang Dage made hot pot.

Those who clearly choose the right category, but like choosing the right wife, still look at the bowl and think about the pot all day, all of which expose the greed of human nature.

Fifth, the more inconspicuous the category, the more fierce it is.

I remember a founder of a western food brand shared it with me. He said he didn't like mala Tang at all. He thinks it is too low-end, neither technical nor good dining environment. He said he would never eat it.

Now, unexpectedly, a small mala Tang turned Sean and Yang Guofu into mala Tang, and they rushed to Wanjia Store. Category is a species in the catering ecology. The more exquisite and luxurious the category, the weaker its risk resistance and vulnerability, just like dinosaurs in the biological world.

The more humble, simple and tiny the species, the stronger its ability to resist risks and fragility. They are ants, bees and cockroaches in the biological world.

The biggest product selection risk of the founder is to judge the choice of categories according to his own preferences. We should know that we sell them not to ourselves but to more customers in need.

6. How to find the next pickled fish?

The title was changed to how to find the next tea cafe and Chaoshan beef hotpot.

Many people like to find outlets, and people often come to me for advice. Principal, which one will be popular? They think I can tell fortune, but I really can.

These years have really helped many students, and the consulting company has changed the category track, which is followed by the rapid growth of enterprises.

Of course, my fortune telling is a scientific methodology, and I have my data model.

I dare to suggest them to change categories because categories represent demand. You find that an unpopular category and a niche category seem to have less competition and less demand.

So how to find more and better categories? It's actually quite simple.

Look at the outbreak upstream of the supply chain. Without the outbreak of Basha fish supply chain, there would be no category bonus of pickled fish fast food.

Looking at the intergenerational changes of downstream consumers, without the new generation of consumers after 90-00, there would be no outbreak of tea, dessert and ice cream.

Therefore, the essence of choosing a good track in advance is information science, which is the knowledge of information collection and processing, rather than relying entirely on gambling.

Seven, why not easily contact the unpopular category?

Many junior entrepreneurs misread the differentiation and chose a particularly unpopular and niche category to start a business.

In the past five years, I have discouraged many entrepreneurs, but people will ask you for advice. As long as they don't pay huge consulting fees, they all want answers from you. His choice is right, and you often deny him. He agreed on the surface and greeted you silently when he went out.

The characteristic of offline restaurants is that they can only serve a small radius, so too small categories and unpopular categories are often the population of your location and business circle, which cannot meet the normal, continuous and stable customer needs of a store.

For example, countless people want to be vegetarian. In fact, this is a difficult action, and the intention is good, but the result is not necessarily good.

Of course, nothing is absolute. Unpopular and niche classes have high requirements for site selection and high requirements for founders and users' operational ability.