Things we must do for surviving in COVID-19

The COVID-19 situation is making the world's economy too difficult. Now we are more sensitive to the term 'survival' than to the term 'development'. We have to survive. Companies that have survived in the situation of COVID-19 may face another leap forward. To do so, we must survive fiercely. I pay attention to the role of leader in these situations. The role of a leader (manager) in any situation at any time is very important. The chief decision maker must always maintain its urgency. A leader should always be in front of the lines. I write this article with a sense of urgency. We all have to survive.

I noticed what we have to do everyday to survive. I melted my experiences, what I've seen and what I actually did in this article. I don't want to talk about those in the air. Right now the leader has to agonize about what to do to survive. After simulating it many times, I doubt if we could survive. The bottom line is, nevertheless, that no one knows.

If you were in top management level of a company, you may be in a desperate situation. You could be lonely. But no wonder, it is a position that you have to endure such desperation and loneliness. And definitely you must have vision and conviction. In this situation, who can assert this so precisely? Even so, I think I'll be doing these if I were in top management level with great earnestness to survive.

1. There is a road in the book. I always engrave this in my mind. Yes. There are paths in books, in newspapers, in magazines, in YouTube and so on. We have to pay attention to government or global health authorities' announcements, read more than five columns or analysis articles on COVID-19 every day. Then list and execute what you can now. This is the leader's job.

2. The decision maker (leader) must hold meetings with the staff every morning. If you are working from home, have a meeting through web conference. Recently, companies say that we should reduce the meetings. I don't think so. I think an hour-long meeting every morning must be held. A lot of information must be provided so that the decision maker can make the right decision.

Reports made in writing or e-mail can be clarified who will be responsible for this. So if it is sensitive information, it may not be specified. And also it is often known already. We have to have meeting everyday. The meeting must confirm and move on to the things that need to be confirmed on the day. The sales, inventory, client company status, etc. of the previous day should be checked. It is also necessary to check how members and their families are doing in this COVID-19 situation and if there have any difficulties.

3. Members (I don't like the word 'employee'.) of the company must continue to communicate with their clients through social media and phone calls. They should constantly check whether their health is okay, if there is anything we can do to help them, and whether their families are okay.

You should collect and record information about the current sales situation, the inventory levels and financial situation with the customer. Don't even think you'll contact them when things get better. When things get better, other competitors will also contact them indubitably. Show them who their true friend is.

4. The company should keep informed the effective activities such as quarantine activities, keeping living distance, and hand sterilization etc. Through Instagram, Facebook or else, consistently post what efforts the company is making in this situation to overcome.

5. Leaders must do financial analysis every day. The leaders should be clearly aware of changes in finance. If this COVID-19 condition persists, the leaders should assume how long we can endure in the case of that the sales are completely cut off. So the leaders have to review the financial status every day with the prospect of daily sales and profits etc. No one can predict how long this COVID-19 situation will last. 

6. The form of business after COVID-19 must be changed. Almost all media outlets are predicting future changes. Now, companies have to decide whether to maintain and strengthen the existing industrial form or to expand the industry's trends by reading and combining them. Bio-related, health-related market prospects, for example, are always commented when talking about post COVID-19 business.

We have to think about whether there is a chance for our company to enter these areas. First of all, we should make a list of companies involved, closely monitor their trends and movements, and also review M&A if necessary. Even if you don't buy the company, you could find a business opportunity if you watch it with interest.

The concrete implementation and very specific actions of a leader always makes the vision strong.

About Setting Sales Targets

In general, a company sets its sales targets for this year around September or October last year. In many cases, quarterly or semi-annual rollings are carried out in consideration of market conditions and sales progress. Then, for companies that do not involve in-house political elements and do performance-based assessments, the members of the company are promoted as the assessment improves if they achieve their annual planning goals or roll targets. The company is required to set a stretch target when establishing an annual sales target. As a result, there are many leaders who set fewer goals than they can actually do. In fact, leaders who set little and achieve monthly are often judged to be successful. The role of management level is really important, as I have repeatedly stressed. In setting goals, the management, especially the top management, should see the market more clearly than the middle managers do.

A leader in a situation that the market is unexpectedly improving rapidly, or that the current situation has not been expected, such as the Corona virus, exceeding the target of more than 20 percent, or underperforming more than 20 percent, seems not so good. It could be a case that a goal is set less and achieved without effort in order to get a good evaluation, or the leader made a mistake in analyzing the market.

The task of setting annual sales targets is extremely important. I don't like rolling once set goals, nor do I think it's desirable. The leader should be responsible for achieving or failing to meet the goal. That's the leader. We should see the market accurately, take responsibility for setting sales targets, and do our best to achieve them.

As you achieve so, you could receive an assessment fairly. And you should not expect a good evaluation if you do not perform well. The final decision maker who approved the sales target cannot escape responsibility if it falls short.

Establishing sales targets should not be seen as a mere routine. I regard setting sales targets as the most important thing. I think that point is where corporate management begins, and contributions to society begin. So setting sales targets shouldn't be seen as just annual activities. 

You have to see all the numbers. All the numbers including the company's mid- and long-term goals, the previous year's business performance (especially operating profit), the exchange rate, interest rate outlook of each financial institution, the market outlook of securities firms, and the demand forecast of customers. Then, the company should summarize sales targets by product and forecast prices, and analyze the costs forecast by the Treasury Department to make a cost outlook and clearly forecast operating profit.

Based on this, the decision maker who receives the report should add the information, data, and enthusiasm she or he can obtain to modify the target, and present a clear number so that the final sales target can be determined. As always, the decision maker's role is especially important when it comes to annual sales goals.

If annual sales targets have been set, this must be achieved.

A leader who asks about the company's inventory level is incompetent.

A leader who asks about the company's inventory level is incompetent.

If a leader asks, "How many inventories we have today?" the leader is incompetent. If you are a leader, you should know the final inventory number of the previous day at any time. Inventory control is the basis of management. Regardless of the size or department of the company, leaders, including the CEO, should be aware of the company's inventory level at this point.

                                                

If a company is well equipped with a management system or process, inventory data can be viewed in a computer system every morning. Or someone prints it out and puts it on a desk. If these systems are not your case, you should make the process. In manufacturing, inventory control is the basic of the basics.

As a leader, almost all data related to inventory must be kept in mind, such as how many the company can store in warehouses, what is the proper inventory level, what is the average daily sales volume, and what is the level of inventory growth accordingly. If the leader remembers the numbers for all the data of the company's inventory, there is little chance that the leader will cause errors in the decision-making.

The person in charge should know how many inventories for the client in charge.  And even the person in charge has to know the client's inventory levels too. If the client company is reluctant to provide the relevant data, visit and see the warehouse. I've never seen a client company refuse to look around the factory. The number can be estimated by looking at the client's warehouse. And when you visit, customers often let you know the number of inventory.

If the client company experiences inventory management difficult, you may share the company's inventory management experience. Actually, I have experience of doing so. At that time, the inventory management of customers was not systematic. So I sent my member to the client company and she checked the form first. It goes without saying that this approach has been of much help to both our customers and us. It is listed in "The Art of War" written by Sun Tzu. ' Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated.' I'd like to say this. 'Know the company's inventory and know the client's inventory, the sales target must be done.'

I am sure that inventory management is that important.

I didn't want the sales team members to be seen in the office that day.

It was a time when I entered Mexico as a sales director in 2008 and began full-fledged sales later that year after completing the construction of the plant. I went to work in the morning that day and looked at yesterday's sales figures, which were far below what we had planned. We had a difficult situation those days. I had all the sales team members gather in the auditorium. I went to the auditorium earlier than the staff and waited standing until all the staff gathered. Everyone was supposed to gather, but there was a message that one or two members had to attend a bit late because of urgent business. I immediately made them stop what they were doing and made them come to the auditorium right away.

All the staff gathered in the auditorium. Then my words had to begin. I started speaking with yesterday's performance. I continued to talk to my members. Yesterday our performance was far below the sales plan. "Under these circumstances, our ability to predict sales is far from sufficient. If we can't predict the same day's sales in the morning, we have to look back at our capabilities. And we, all, don't have to be here if we're not doing this well. I, too, have no point in being here. I cannot find any reason for the existence of a sales team and a sales director who don't perform well. What we are in this position, the sales department, is to sell. So we have to sell. Why are we here if we can't sell?"

I told all the sales team members to go out of the company immediately and bring in the sales volume. I said "It doesn't matter if you go to the client company and sit next to the person in charge, or you go home, or you sleep in a hotel" I told them that if you wouldn't bring the sales amount next morning, you didn't need to come to work. Saying so, the officials expressed reluctance. They said that there were a lot of things to do, such as ordering production right away, arranging the trucks, and so on. Of course I had known that. But I insisted. I was the decision maker, and all responsibility and authority for sales lay with me, and if I said so, that was up to me. "So get out of here. Go out and get the sales volume." That was what the sales team should do, I thought so. I said I didn't want to see the sales team members in the office from that moment to next day. So I sent all the sales team members out of the company.

I knew that doing so right away didn't meant that sales would surge. I knew we had to order production that day, and we needed to get the trucks out of the way. But I wanted to see the sales in a month, two months and a year. It was my judgment that with that mind set and determination, we would continue to achieve the sales targets. So I needed the urgency of the members. Each member needed to be determined to achieve their sales goals. So I sent the members out of the company that day.

* I don't want to use the word 'employee'. I prefer to use 'member'.

The next morning our members came to the office. I had the members gather in the auditorium again and revealed the sales volume brought by each member. The expectation was not missed. There was not much amount. It was less than 2% of our monthly sales target. Even so, I praised the staff. In the market situation, we were doing our best. I spoke clearly to the sales team staff. "Don't try to persuade me as far as the sales target is concerned. I will surely achieve my sales goal." So we did our best to achieve our sales goal.

Our efforts paid off and we had achieved our sales target attainment level in the shortest period of time and realized the surplus.

Steel sales are not an industry with immediate performance. It is also sensitive to market conditions. But I didn't want to see blaming it on all the reports mentioned that the market was bad. I knew the market was bad even if it was not written in the report. So in this market situation, I wanted to see in the report what the best we could do. The market is bad, but we focused on what to do.

I asked my members how many customers we had when I heard the report that the market was bad and the sales volume was low. That moment if the number of customers was 100, we should expand the number of customers to 200. Then I asked to my members to raise our service levels. If at that moment the market was bad, it was difficult for customers too. So I requested to go to the customers' companies and see if there was anything we could do to help. But would that be possible to increase the number of customers to 200? I had have so many experiences in this market. I knew even if we do our best, we could expand just  10 more customers at the most. I knew it. But we had to do something to achieve the targets.

Our sales team and I used to have dinner together after the monthly settlement. It was natural that we have achieved our performance. I also thanked the members for doing their best. I was actually grateful. I was grateful that the members for trusting and following me. Some of the sales team members who worked together at that time still work for the corporation, and some had moved on to other companies. I'm sure now the sales team members I worked with at that time became the strong sales force anywhere in Mexico.

It was not impossible to achieve the sales target.

The sales meeting was held every day. Directors and managers gathered in the conference room at 9 o'clock to hold a sales meeting that day. One of our managers looked very tired during the meeting. When I asked her if she had a drink last night, she said she couldn't sleep. When I asked her why she couldn't sleep, she said she tried to sleep at night but couldn't because she didn't think she would be able to meet his sales target that day. I laughed and asked if it really is, and it really is. After the meeting, the manager came into my office. I asked the manager to have a cup of coffee, so we went out together and brought in. The manager thanked me. When I asked the reason, she said that the sales target has been just a number but "Now, it is not only a number, but also a goal to achieve." She said that she gained confidence that she could do anything. She told me when I first came, it was impossible for everyone to achieve monthly sales target. It was less than four months to achieve the monthly targets. But now it's changed. Achieving the goal has become a given. And it was shocked for her when one of the other employees said, "It's impossible," when I said, "Just make it possible." That moment she thought we would not continue to achieve our sales target, but she admitted she was wrong. Now she can't even sleep at night if we don't meet our sales goals on the same day. I thanked her, too. I'm sure our employees are not just saying that it's difficult to achieve their goals, but that they know what we have to do to achieve our difficult sales goals and do their best to achieve them. Even though we did our best to do what we had to do, when we found difficulties, we ran diligently to the factory and to the client company. Decisions were made immediately, and a system was created in which profits could be predicted at the same time as sales. It has been quantified so that we can see the performance in numbers every day and the results of our efforts. As a result, not only employees' awareness but also the way we perform our duties has changed.

I saw the market separately. It is a separation of industrial groups. The industrial group has been separated and the management styles were different. In other words, I managed with different ways in each market such as automobiles, home appliances, construction etc. To that end, discussions with directors in charge continued. I had an opinion that it would be better to leave the market as it flows, except for the automobile and home appliance markets. It is to leave the supply and demand of prices or supplies to the market. It was my opinion that doing so would allow some time to elapse so that our products could naturally settle in the market. However, the director's opinion was different. Instead of leaving it to the market, the director in charge said, "We should create a system to distinguish customers and standardize the price level." I was a little skeptical. If we manage the market in a contrived manner, I wondered if there would be any results in terms of human and physical costs. Even so, I think I should not just ignore the opinion of the director in charge. So I asked him to make a plan and report to me first. After a while, the director has come up with a plan to manage the market. I asked him to wait a little bit in order to review the report first. Then I went over the management report, and I couldn't help but admit that I was wrong. It could be summarized that the market is divided into specific customer groups, the financial status of the client company is also considered, and the market is being led by price forecasting. My idea was wrong. I called the director. I said it was great and I was wrong. Then we put the director's idea into action.

Our marketing department has changed. We became strong.

The market situation should not be an excuse.

The market situation should not be an excuse.

I am not a theorist about management. If this was a war, I was a field commander, and that was right for me. In fact, as a consigned manager who was entrusted with the management of overseas subsidiaries at the headquarters, I established a company, control the construction and managed. I was a sales manager, president of a company entrusted with management, and in charge of marketing division in  a larger company as a CMO. In applying management theories from books or lectures, I decided to conduct practical management as a working person. I thought, I analyzed, I executed. If you ask me if I succeeded, my answer will be yes. I achieved the sales goal of the company and realized the profit.

Work begins at 8 o'clock in our company. For about an hour, managers of each team checked the full-day performance and prepared for the meeting before attending the sales meeting at 9 a.m. Although the sales directors also attended, my questions are actually poured into the managers in charge of the actual operations. The meeting time was not allowed to exceed an hour. Managers who attend meetings always had to attend with almost all the detailed information related to our sales and shipments, including the sales performance of the previous day, sales plan, inventory, distribution plan, customer inventory situation, customer's work efficiency, customer warehouse space, customer's daily operating rate, etc.

The issues that were not identified were asked to be identified during the meeting by a working-level official who did not attend the meeting so that we could be discussed during the meeting. The first thing to check is the previous day's sales performance. There should be a reason for the low or high performance of the quantity scheduled to be sold on the previous day. There are countless situations in sales. Even if we set up a sales plan and proceed, it rarely goes as planned. But I insisted on this. I thought that sales could only be controlled by continuing with this. There was opposition, but I kept it going. Then, when it comes to sales, we have achieved our goal. At first, the employees had a hard time. It's true. I admit it. As time passed, the employees also learned how to control sales, and gained strength from seeing how they were actually being achieved.

캡션 추가

The market situation is important. I believed that the market situation could also be controlled. In fact, there are cases where there is no other way. I know that. Sometimes it's impossible. But in front of the staff, I also said that the market should be controlled. Difficulties are everywhere. All I wanted was for our employees not to excuse with the market situation. Especially in emergency situations such as the recent Corona virus, it is even more difficult. Predicting may also be meaningless. It was not the same situation as Corona virus at the time. But the market situation was difficult. However, we cannot afford to let go of it. I thought of the worst scenario first. And I made a scenario one by one to the station. Then we divided roles. If the market becomes difficult, we are not the only ones who has the difficulties. It's difficult for everyone on the Supply Chain that's connected to us. We all had to survive. I visited all companies who are on the supply chain. And I checked out their situation and sorted out what we had to do, what they had to do. We organized what we needed to do, and we brought it up to the morning sales meeting and carried it out. We cannot completely control and change the flow of the big market. What I wanted from myself and my staff was not to blame the market situation. The market situation should always be analyzed and viewed as the current situation. The market situation should not be an excuse. In any market we have works to do, and in that job we only do our best. Every morning I emphasized this. Even if the market was good, we didn't relax. If the market is good, we have raised our sales target. And I checked every day. The basis for me to achieve my sales goals and realize my profits was morning sales meetings. I kept it going. Every day's meeting result was mailed when I was on a business trip or when I was away from the company. I checked the mail and if there was any change in performance, I immediately contacted the manager in charge to find out the reason and to confirm what to do. So we've achieved our sales goals and we've achieved them.

* In the next episode, I will write down what our employees felt during this series of activities.

The basis of a leader is to take the initiative.

The basis of a leader is to take the initiative. The presence of members in the organization creates a leader. The most important virtue for a leader, from a beginner to CEO, is taking the initiative. A leader who does not show the initiative is not qualified as a leader. Unqualified leaders are fatal to companies that value performance and profits. In the past, manufacturing was a time when all products was sold in a supplier-oriented industry. In today's diverse industrial era, hard work is needed to sell products that have been produced. Effort can be done by anyone if they want to. Leaders have to be different.

It was when I was working as CMO in a overseas corporation. I checked the sales process after I was assigned to the corporation. There was a fairly good system in the process. But there were many months when the company failed to meet its monthly target sales. I began to analyze the causes one by one. Although improvements in processes and systems have been seen here and there, compared to other companies, we have built an excellent system. After looking at the process one by one and consulting with the staff, I realized that there was no urgency to achieve the goals in their mind. For them, the goal was just a number, and achieving the goal was almost impossible under the current circumstances.

 First of all, I asked the staff not to say "impossible" in front of me. The expression "impossible" in sales could be told only by me.  In our organization I'm the only one who can say "impossible". All members of the marketing department were asked to gather in the conference room. Then I told that in the future we would never fall short of our sales Then I said that I would hold a sales meeting at 9 a.m. every morning with directors and managers. Then I asked for the sales form they had been managing, then I looked at it carefully. There was no immediate need to modify the management style. I didn't want many changes which could add the staff's work. I tried to make the most of it if I could use the existing one. As time went by, I could revise it with my staff. Employees and leaders must go together. The leader decides and leads, but it is not desirable for employees to be dragged reluctantly.

After careful reviewing of the form, the form was put on the screen at the morning sales meeting. To directors and managers, it was the first time that CMO has attended a meeting every morning to discuss the sales. For me, I  have had a meeting every morning since I dispatched to Mexico. At that time I was the head of a overseas corporation, so I could brought the managers from all departments, including sales/production/financial/maintenance/quality/general affairs, to attend. This meeting had been going on every single day unless I was away on a business trip. In the course of the meeting, it was necessary for employees to clearly recognize why sales objectives are important and how they should be managed and what should be done to achieve sales goals.

The meeting started at 9 a.m. the next morning. The form was shown on the big screen in front of it. It's just an Excel sheet. The sheet showed the departments, teams, customers and dates. First of all, each column was blank. As it was the first meeting, I explained the purpose of the meeting. After explaining the purpose, I asked the managers what our sales target is for this month. Some knew and some didn't. I then asked what the goal of the team was. Some knew and some didn't. There is no reprimand or rebuke. There is my way of doing it from now on. We will achieve our sales targets every month.

The directors and managers attending the meeting were made sure they were not late for the meeting. Every morning, the team preparing for the meeting was asked to be ready before five minutes, and the meeting could begin at nine o'clock on time. I told the attendees why I was here. I am here to take charge of the sales of our corporation and to realize our sales goals so that our corporation can continue to realize its profits. Then I told each of the attendees that they should be clearly aware of why they are here. Each of the attendees as a sales manager, they were here to manage the carrier of their employees so that they could develop, and then to achieve the team's sales goals.

Then we divided the corporate sales target into departments. And we divided this into teams. After that I ordered them to distribute the target to their respective customers. They could have just divided the number up to the team's goal, but it was not easy to set the goal as a customer unit. Corporate goals, department goals, team goals, and customer-specific goals were expressed in quantity. Now we can divide this by the day of the month. It is not easy to predict daily sales for each customer. I knew it wasn't easy either. However, they were forced to divide it into daily and fill the form. So for the day we have completed the form for our daily sales meetings. Through this form, we have achieved our sales goals with detailed management during our daily sales meetings.

* The following story will specifically tell you how we managed sales meeting and achieved the targets.