"Soul Catcher" Xia Hua

A lot of people don't know about "Yiwen", but Liu Chuanzhi, Yu Minhong and other bigwigs who are familiar to everyone are its customers. The acquisition of Volvo by Geely Group Chairman Li Shufu was a sensation, but few people knew that he was wearing a suit tailored for him by "Even" during the negotiation. Yiwen is a company that produces high-end men's clothing, and its chairman, Xia Hua, is a "personal butler" who tailors clothes for these business elites.

It is often said that it is the easiest to earn money from women, but Xia Hua is a woman who earns money from men, and what he earns is money from male bosses. Xia Hua, who used to be a teacher at China University of Political Science and Law, found a new direction in life during a research trip to a clothing company in the south—making high-end menswear. After she came back, she resigned immediately and started her entrepreneurial journey from the counter in the shopping mall.

The choice of men's clothing is the result of Xia Hua's rational thinking. She doesn't understand design, and believes that women's clothing is more easily influenced by personal preferences and styles. On the contrary, men's clothing can more objectively observe and understand consumers' needs from a woman's point of view. From 680 yuan to today's suits costing tens of thousands of dollars, Xia Hua has been using women's sensitivity and delicacy to observe and pay attention to "men's hearts". Her initial positioning for Yiwen was not based on age and income, but from the concept of "successful man", "In the eyes of parents, he is a filial son and the backbone of the family; in the eyes of children, he is an excellent son. A father is an idol in his heart; in front of his wife, he is a trustworthy husband and a harbor that carries a lifetime of happiness. Success is not about how much wealth and status he has, but more about playing every role in society. ." These descriptions have injected original genes into Evan's emotional marketing.

Knows men better than men

Since the establishment of Yiwen, Xia Hua has distinguished between business and branding. Doing business is a one-time transaction, "it's like being with a man for many years but you don't even know your name"; while making a brand, you need to let the consumer group "come because of you", and if you do a little better, you can "go with you" boundary. Therefore, the key to a brand's success is its ability to objectively understand and read consumer needs.

Xia Hua, who never thought about men so much when they were in love, after founding Yiwen, he often watched TV watched by men, read magazines read by men, and stared at men even when he was shopping. With these meticulous observations and attentive experience, Xia Hua often made some behaviors that were difficult for his colleagues to understand, but in the end he always achieved unexpected results.

Many people believe that the fitting room is the only place where consumers can be quiet for rational consumption and thinking. Generally, all the information in the fitting room is to further induce sales, allowing consumers to buy more advanced and better products. However, Xia Hua did something of "risking the world's big injustice". She posted three pictures in the fitting room: the backs of the parents, the child on the swing, and the woman leaning on a man's arm. And with a paragraph: Yiwen reminds you to consume rationally, for the old age of your parents, for the education of your children, and for your wife's cosmetics. This paragraph makes many people feel paradoxical. All sales are aimed at making consumers buy. Isn't this inhibiting consumption? Xia Hua doesn't think so. What she wants is not a one-time transaction for consumers, but for them to buy comfortably and calmly. Xia Hua asked Yiwen to truly understand customers from the heart at every contact point of service and every marketing slogan. It is precisely because of this that Yiwen has been a loyal customer for more than ten years, and Xia Hua knows, "I understand him, and he understands us."

Xia Hua has always been "maverick" in emotional marketing. When everyone is thinking about how to spend money to buy eyeballs, she is more willing to hit the soul of the consumer with the least cost, so as to achieve the effect of "one time he can't forget it".

On the morning of Valentine's Day in 2003, Yiwen delivered tens of thousands of carefully prepared gifts to VIP guests through a courier company. The simple Chinese man received an ambiguous gift: a dessert with a rose on it, and a pink card that said: Eternal Lover - Yiwen. Many people sweated at that time, "God, Yiwen, where did you know this woman?" Later, they remembered that it was the brand of the suit they bought. On this day, Yiwen's customer management center received countless calls, and many customers said that it was the first time they received such a gift, and they would wear "Yiwen" clothes in the future. So the "Even" brand was deeply branded into the minds of consumers that day.

Actually, whether the millions of expenses should be gifts or advertising, there was a dispute within Yiwen. The marketing department believed that the opportunity for the audience to see directly through TV advertising was greater, but Xia Hua insisted on the previous one. Program. In her opinion, "Enterprise fire is for a while, life is for a lifetime", and the same is true for brands. Is the purpose to let people know or to own? Brands are very particular about when they advertise, when they spend money, and who they spend their money on. "When you are still imperfect, magnify yourself infinitely. What everyone remembers is just you at that moment. No matter how you pack it in the future, you can't hide your flaws." Xia Hua insists on spending money directly on consumers and consumers. On the staff, the real target consumer groups have a deep understanding of Yiwen with admiration. "It doesn't matter what you think, but what others think of you matters." Xia Hua insists on putting the needs and cognition of consumers first.

Being a "personal housekeeper"

Xia Hua has contacted many male entrepreneurs and found that they do not go shopping at all, and they are even more confused about the brand of suits. For these busy entrepreneurs, Xiahua has innovated in the service model and launched the "personal butler" service to customize personalized clothing for customers.

"Personal Butler" will be specially designed and produced according to the theme and environment of customers attending business activities. More "extreme" is that "personal butler" needs to be "on call" for customers. Since many entrepreneurs have spare time at the airport, Yiwen will rent a VIP room at the airport, and the personal butler will rush to measure the size of the customer, and all the customer needs to do is call Yiwen. This service is mainly used by the Kevin Kelly brand under the Evan Group.

Xia Hua's "butler service" is based on the standard of not disturbing customers, "let him know, and have the patience to wait until he recognizes and agrees". Although Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Group, who dresses casually, has known Xia Hua for a long time, he has never cared about Kevin Kelly, a menswear brand, until he suddenly thought of Yiwen when he needed professional dress matching for overseas acquisitions of Volvo. The "housekeeper" designed and produced several suits for Li Shufu to facilitate him to attend various acquisition negotiation occasions.

When the Kevin Kelly brand was founded, many people told Xia Hua that the positioning was too niche and the cost was too high. But Xia Hua believes that every weak consumer demand is a potential market. As long as he persistently "digs wells", there will always be a day when water will come out. Xia Hua said that the difference between "butler service" and sales is that the latter is to make customers pay, but "butler" is to increase people's respect for the brand. Do anything, when you do it to the extreme, people will remember the best you, and they will come to you when they need it.

Won the hearts of employees with trust and love

In the market, Xia Hua needs to understand consumers. Similarly, when facing internal employee management, she also uses trust and love to win the hearts of employees. After 18 years of fighting, Yiwen now has more than 3,000 employees. Xia Hua understands that what he does with 1% of his energy will never be better than others. So, she adopted the management strategy of trusting her subordinates and letting them do it, and the result was as good as Xia Hua expected.

In March 2012, Yiwen was invited to participate in London Fashion Week as a static exhibition. Xia Hua originally thought that the organizer had already arranged it, and Yiwen only needed to take the clothes and hang them up. But when I went to the scene, there was nothing but an empty gallery space. There are still two days to go, and the time is urgent. It is impossible for Xia Hua to do it perfectly at home in a foreign country. So, she only said to the girl in charge of marketing: "Is it all right? Just try your best." After that, she hurried to attend other activities. On the third day, Xia Hua arrived at the scene only 10 minutes earlier than the judges, and the scene at that time moved her to tears, "The swirling bamboo shadows, the agile Chinese ink landscape paintings, the fragrance of tea all over the floor, the clothes and the scene complement each other. painting". Even foreigners praised in front of Xia Hua, your staff is amazing.

The job of a manager is to ignite others. "How much I can do depends on how wide a range of people I can ignite with my heart." Xia Hua described running a business as playing a game. Entrepreneurs are usually game leaders and rule-makers. Many entrepreneurs find that the people around them have become boring and can't play anymore. Xia Hua worked hard to get them to change their roles from the game. When they go from followers to leaders, the game gets bigger and the business gets bigger. At the company's annual meeting last year, many old employees who have grown up with Yiwen for more than 10 years shed tears with excitement. A design director said, "It only took ten seconds to walk up to this award-winning stage, but in order to prepare for this moment, use It has been ten years in my life, and it is the best ten years. Yiwen is a stage to fulfill himself."

Xia Hua should use his love for employees to arouse employees' love for the company, and once employees have a passion for the company With love, their investment in the business is not a problem. "I haven't been a mother since I gave birth to a child, but because I love children, I have to learn to do it."

In Evan Group, many excellent team managers are not the most capable, and even some People have proposed to transfer positions, "Many people are better than me, and I will have problems standing in this position." However, Xia Hua said to these people, "The moment you say this, I don't think you have a problem. , because you can cede your position to others and tell me that they are better than you, which shows that you love them enough and respect them enough. So you must be able to do well, serve them well, and make them happy."

In Ewen Group, there is also a position of "Staff Housekeeper". Their job content is to create a warm working atmosphere and provide employees with "housekeeper" services. Every morning, the "Staff Housekeeper" will place seasonal petals in the corners of public spaces such as elevators and toilets, making people feel comfortable when they see it. From Monday to Friday, the breakfast is different every day, and is delivered to the desk of the staff by the "resident housekeeper", and there is afternoon tea, delicious desserts and fresh fruits in the afternoon. Maybe the matter is not big and the function is not heavy, but employees can experience Xia Hua's care for themselves from everything they do.

Xia Hua has a 14-year-old daughter whose name is also Yiwen. She said that the reason why she named her daughter is to find a reason for herself that she has no right to give up the Yiwen Group in her whole life.

Some people once questioned that the parallel development of the five brands of Ewen Group will cause contradictions in resource utilization and affect strategic development. In this regard, Xia Hua replied: "Since the child is born, she is mine. Even if she is sick, I will cure her so that she can live a healthy life and live with the dignity of life."