Author | Su Qi Kong Mingming Tang Yahua Liming Yan Lijiao Zhao Lei
Edit | 周 昶 帆
Title map | Visual China
23 days before the end of 2019. Compared with only one day off on New Year’s Day, everyone’s pain is that the KPI in 2019 has not been completed.
According to statistics from IT Orange, as of December 6, 2019, the number of new economy companies that closed this year was 327, while the number of companies that closed last year was 458. On this basis, everyone ’s feelings of “difficulty” are getting deeper and deeper. The closer they are to the year, the more news of layoffs in each family becomes.
Back to the industry, every industry basically has some strange phenomena that have not happened in previous years.
People in the film and television industry feel that the industry is very depressed this year. The number of film and television drama shooting has decreased sharply. Many projects have failed to pass review and approval. Capital is also more cautious about the film and television industry. The fresh carrot industry has a bad life and wonderful life , The industry poured a basin of cold water; the education industry’s refund rate has increased this year, the purchase rate of art courses has plummeted, and parents don’t want to put so much money outside, there is no sense of security; the electronic cigarette industry was also hot In the second half of the year, the government issued an internet embargo and cooled down overnight.
How is the KPI set at the beginning of the year now completed? What new forecasts and plans are there for next year? Ran Cai had an in-depth chat with 6 entrepreneurs in the cusp industry.
Success or failure can only be a bet. Surviving is our KPI.
—— Wei Ran, CEO of Mobile Game Company
Game companies are generally project-based. Of course, we formulate KPIs according to the project group. Of course, there is a KPI that is already online, and the KPI that is not online is determined according to another dimension. If it is put into the company as a whole, the plan at the beginning of the year is to achieve an annual turnover of 30 million, which is the core. Others such as user size, retention rate, and active time are all formulated around this goal and then divided into different departments.
Thirty million may be the first day of an event for big players, but it is still a big challenge for most small game companies.Especially this year’s edition number is in short supply. At the beginning, we were n’t sure if we could get the version number of the new project, so when we set this goal, the main plan of the game that we already launched came to me and felt too much pressure.
I remember it was late that day, and everyone was working overtime. I called for the main plan for the new project. Three people went to a roadside barbecue stall downstairs of the company. Just sat down and I said nothing. Picking up a bottle of beer and doing it directly scared them both.
The two of me and I said that this year we will have a hard time. If the new project cannot get the version number, it will cause a lot of pressure on the old project, but whether we can get the version number is not our decision. We can do There are only two things. Before the version number is down, the old project can be supported for another day, and the new project needs to be polished as long as it is not online.
My original words are, two brothers, I will give you the life of Wei Ran. In fact, they both understand that our old game has been online for more than a year, and the data is declining. If the new project is postponed, in order to keep the company running, we may adopt some aggressive activity strategies. Bring a wave of water, but it is actually overdrafting the vitality of this project. It will die out in advance. After the new project is launched, it will need to bear this part of the lost revenue. Still fall down.
Facing life and death, they are all on the same boat, everyone’s pressure is the same. Only by doing their best, can we get a glimmer of vitality.
To this end, we have accelerated the activity rhythm of the old project, with one small event almost every week and one large event every other week. New props, new plots, new illustrations, our numerical planners, plot planners, arts, and programs work overtime until eleven o’clock almost every day, and are often pulled to the company on the weekends to catch up, and the operating students are in three shifts 24 Hourly monitoring data, managing game groups and major forums are more busy than when the game is just online.
Colleagues of the new project have not been idle. Some people’s original paintings have been changed for more than thirty versions. The numerical balance needs to be verified repeatedly. Program students need to test the system for bugs over and over again. The tendency to get together, because there is always work to be done, whoever is busy with the task at hand, go to another group to help.
A lot of people ca n’t carry it. Although we did n’t take the initiative to lay off staff or cut our salary, I even asked a friend to borrow hundreds of thousands to subsidize everyone, but it was really too tired. About a dozen people left , I still appreciate them and would like to spend this difficult time with me.
Although the 30 million running KPIs at the beginning of the year were not completed, we at least survived, and we finally got the version number in the second half of the year. The game goes live in October, finallyAlso, word of mouth and revenue are better than the previous ones. Next year should be able to support for a long time, enough for us to develop new games.
In fact, in my heart, survival is a core KPI, and 30 million is just an estimate. This year, I worked hard to work day and night, just to survive. The two main strategies were not known. The wine I drank that night was to make myself bold. I really said at the time, “Or let us not “I finally decided to take another bet. Fortunately, we won this bet.
The whole company sells goods, and it is imperative to survive
—— Fang Hairun, founder of an electronic cigarette company
I started my business as an e-cigarette. When we set the KPI for the company earlier this year, we set a flag of 100 million sales this year. In fact, after setting this 100 million KPI, we are completely patted on the head, without any industry research and data calculation. Because Yue Ke sold about 100 million yuan last year, we set this goal for Biao Yue Ke.
We did n’t expect to complete this goal either. We think it will be about 50% to 60%, because our goal is very high and it is very difficult to complete.
2019 is really an unpredictable year for the e-cigarette industry. In the first half of the year, everyone rushed in and started to fight. In the second half of the year, the government issued an Internet embargo to crack down on electronic cigarettes, and the industry cooled down.
So, of course, we did not complete the KPI formulated at the beginning of the year, and currently only about a third of it has been completed.
The impact of policies on the e-cigarette industry is actually much larger than many people think. Now that the policy has been in place for more than a month, many factories in Shenzhen have stopped working, and most foundries are laying off workers. Although it is only required to not sell online, the chain reaction caused by the policy has caused market panic and lost confidence. Just like the stock market, confidence is more expensive than gold. So now everyone is throwing goods, all kinds of throwing.
We make e-cigarettes, which are all in, so it can be understood as a desperate business. Not to mention the nine to five, as long as we have time to sell it to all employees, everyone is carrying sales indicators, including technical staff, and even the front desk needs to sell goods.
If the sales index is not completed, it is counted as a performance evaluation. But we thought of a way to give those employees the same amount of goods without deducting their performance pay. ratioIf he should have deducted 1,000 yuan in performance salary, we will replace this part of the salary with 1,000 yuan worth of goods and let him handle it by himself. He can choose to use it himself, give it away, or sell it.
We are now “selling goods while maintaining stability”. We will try to sell as many goods as possible under the condition of controlling costs. Now the people who can bring performance to the company are the ones the company needs. The starting point for this is to increase sales, and we are also transmitting this signal to employees.
Everyone in the company now treats all sales as equals. No way, the company must sell the goods to survive. For those employees who do not accept this kind of plan, we usually go to appease first, if it ca n’t appease, let him stop doing it.
When I need to lay off people, it ’s the most difficult time for me, because sometimes I really ca n’t do it. Some employees are actually very good, but in order to survive the whole company, you have to cut him off. At this time, I often can’t bear it emotionally, but rationality tells me that I have to do it this way, because if I don’t do it, it will be a dead end.
This wave of e-cigarette effects on e-cigarettes will last 6 to 12 months, so for us e-cigarette companies, the most important thing now is to survive. If after six to twelve months, the industry has ushered in new growth, let’s think about how to continue to make efforts.
Special monthly price, the unit price of class will rise and fall.
—— lucky, manager of early education center
Our store is located in an area where internet companies gather. The KPI of a single store set at the beginning of the year is 15 million. As of the end of November, about 11.3 million was completed. The remaining one month will definitely not be completed.
The bad situation this year has also been transmitted to the field of early education. We have done incomplete statistics on nearby communities. Most of the parents born in the post-80s and post-90s work at Internet companies. In the first two years, To be precise, by the first half of 2018, I obviously felt that these young parents were very enthusiastic about some art courses that seemed “optional”, and the purchase rate of this part of the course plummeted this year.
This has led to a reduction in our trial and error costs. In the past, some parents will mention some courses that have not been added. We will try selectively and take a few months to see the results. This year, such courses have basically stalled.
Everyone who has paid attention to early education should have heard it. Not long ago, a well-known early education institutionClosed for bad business. This year, the tide of closing shops in small and medium-sized early childhood education institutions is very obvious. The funds are running and the capital chain is broken … Our shopping mall originally had a competing product. It closed recently, and some parents are excited about their rights. Removed everything the early education institutions could move.
The pool of early education is too deep, the industry has low thresholds, and competition is fierce. When it comes to running, some brands are built because of the vent, and there is basically no additional protection for parents. We also want to reduce costs, so no innovation or trial and error this year.
Apart from the lack of innovation, this year’s business completion has not been smooth. The 15 million target was set at the end of last year. According to the practice of previous years, the annual price increase of course packages is about 500 to 1,000 yuan, and a 4% to 5% price increase is the normal range. First of all, this year, the overall price did not fluctuate too much, and the headquarters gave a 2% increase. We obviously adjusted the price by 2%. In fact, we did not sell at this price at all. Every April, May, and June are the seasons of price increase. This year, from the second quarter onwards, not only did the price increase, but also special activities every month. This was completely absent in previous years, and most of the preferential activities in previous years were cashback. In order to redeem KPIs, there are really no reasons for some months, so we forcibly linked to various holidays, such as the August 1st Army Day.
As a store manager, I am also under pressure. Several branches in Beijing have changed several store managers because of poor performance. But in fact, apart from doing activities, we have no better way to attract new customers. In the past two months, I have been playing tricks on marketing and organizing various activities in the hope that the performance will rise again at the end of the year. However, the price reduction of courses is not too daring. The price itself was not too high at the beginning of the year, and it was almost at the end of the line.
But in general, although we ca n’t finish the KPI this year, we are still profitable. Although the environment is volatile, Brands with good service and reputation will not have a particularly large impact. Primary and secondary education institutions.
Many colleagues have fallen and are afraid that they will run slower than others
—— Yun Tao, Fresh Food e-commerce entrepreneur
By the end of the year, I’m worried about watching the unfinished KPIs.
First of all, the financing goal has not been completed. This year’s financing, especially the early stage financing, is not the same as before. The era when only a concept can be melted into money has passed. Investors want numbers to come out first, and then follow up on investments. This needs me