**Beyond Sales Tactics: Building Product and Brand Power for Success**

"Kung Fu is Outside the Poetry": How I Helped a Business Owner Overcome Live Streaming Sales Anxiety

Many entrepreneurs and marketers get stuck when facing sales challenges, focusing on quick fixes while ignoring deeper issues. Through a case study of a private business owner, we'll explore how to break free from traditional thinking and find fundamental solutions to sales problems. This will lead to stronger product and brand power.

The saying "Kung Fu is Outside the Poetry" comes from 84-year-old Lu You, a famous Southern Song Dynasty poet, who advised his son on becoming a skilled writer. It means that to write excellent poetry, one must go beyond mere poetic expression and rules.

This principle applies directly to problem-solving. When facing challenges, we shouldn't only focus on the immediate issue; instead, we need to step back and look for solutions from a broader perspective. This requires a global mindset and systematic thinking.

A private business owner recently visited my company to discuss a potential collaboration. He explained his frustration with a live streaming sales channel that wasn't performing. He described setting low ROI targets, which resulted in sporadic sales, while higher ROI goals meant he couldn't even spend his allocated budget on traffic. His team, based in a Tier 5 city, was struggling daily with mounting costs and anxiety.

Upon hearing his story, I reassured him that worrying wouldn't help. Even changing the live streaming team wouldn't solve the underlying issue.

Sales are just the "fruit" of a larger process. The true "cause" lies in his product power and brand power. This means:

• Product Strategy: Was the chosen product suitable for this channel? Did it have competitive advantages?
• Brand Building: Was there enough awareness, exposure, and brand influence to drive sales?

Through deeper conversation, I discovered the root of the problem. The live streamer was primarily selling a fresh produce line that carried high costs and held little benefit for branding.

The team member responsible for the live stream relied on performance-based bonuses, so they were hesitant to sell anything else despite lacking expertise in other product categories. This demonstrated a flawed product strategy driven by personal incentives.

Further analysis revealed that the brand lacked online presence. There was no information on platforms like Wikipedia, Weibo, or Xiaohongshu, and there wasn't any active content promoting the products on the live streaming platform.

Essentially, their online brand power was non-existent.

The target audience for this product was limited, and many people were unfamiliar with it or hadn't tried it before. This required market education and "planting seeds" to create interest. Otherwise, customers wouldn't know why they should buy the product, especially when there was no brand awareness, celebrity endorsements, or compelling features.

With high production costs that couldn't be lowered, the product was simply priced out of reach for most buyers. This created a vicious cycle leading to poor sales and declining morale.

The live streaming sales issues stemmed from weak product power and brand power. They were not adequately supporting the sales efforts, ultimately leading to unsatisfactory results.

As I explained to the owner, success in sales goes beyond mastering sales techniques. We need to identify the underlying "causes" that contribute to sales performance. These "causes" could include product power, brand power, channel strength, organizational capabilities, technological proficiency, and customer service.

By strengthening these foundational elements, we create a fertile ground for successful sales outcomes.

Understanding the true issues provided the owner with much-needed clarity and actionable solutions. His anxiety began to dissipate as he gained a clearer path forward.

Remember, facing challenges head-on and seeking comprehensive solutions are key to overcoming obstacles.