"When I was in a class at CEIBS, one day I was discussing case studies about digital transformation in enterprises. A classmate said that I told you that the success rate of traditional enterprise transformation is not more than 10%, and we can see many cases of transformation failure. ”
When asked about the transformation and innovation of luxury car companies, Chinpeiji, who has been the president of Volvo Cars' Greater China sales company for more than two years, talked about this small episode on the spot. How traditional forces are not abandoned by the times is probably a kind of topic that all traditional car executives have not been able to avoid in the past few years.
In Chinpeighi, the core of this is summarized as "truth-seeking and pragmatic". It sounds a bit grand, and if you have to express it more bluntly, it is that everything must be "honest".
"New Forces" Cannot Escape "Old Problems"
Any topic in the current automotive circle will be intentionally or unintentionally led to a comparison between new and old forces. Especially when the top three wei xiaoli of the new forces have crossed the threshold of cumulative delivery of 100,000 units, and basically achieved stable monthly sales of more than 10,000 yuan. In a trance, people feel that today's consumers seem to be only willing to pay for innovation, forcing traditional car companies to rack their brains and align themselves with the new forces.
"In the nearly thirty years of business history, the traditional forces have been defeated by the new forces, and the most commonly mentioned thing is that Apple defeated Nokia and digital cameras defeated Kodak. More traditional businesses are still alive." In Chinpeighi's view, there is no black and white in the business world, and everything is centered. For the automotive industry, the old and new forces will eventually be balanced, and eventually they will still return to the most essential business laws.
Unlike the almost one-sided support of the new forces in public opinion, the real industry insiders are "doing the opposite". We can notice that the new forces of car companies have begun to stop talking about customer first, and face to face with customers every day. Instead, it began to talk about the establishment of a comprehensive system, and the success of an enterprise is the integration of all factors. And this is what Volvo has always said, and it is also the ability of traditional car companies. In Chinpeighi's view, this change has a certain inevitability. Because, start-ups are in the limelight, and after growing to a certain stage, they will definitely face these problems.
Judging from the recent attention of Wei Xiaoli and even some of the new second-tier forces, they have begun to face "growing pains" and have to deal with various problems that will arise immediately after crossing the 100,000 mark. To this end, they will need to take more nutrients from the experience of traditional car companies.
"Old forces" have to adapt to the "new environment"
In the face of the encirclement and blockade of the new forces, the traditional car companies do not have much capital at present, as usual, holding the shelf and sitting and talking. Chinpeighi admits that traditional luxury brands, including Volvo, must learn the idea of new forces and users face to face, "We have been sitting behind dealers for too long, we are too far away from consumers, and we are lagging behind in this awareness." ”
Realizing that backwardness is inevitable to catch up, and the direction of catching up is particularly important. "I have always said that what traditional companies want to change is to change their thinking, and they must know that this world is no longer the world it was before."
Despite the name of a traditional car company, Volvo has never been an old-fashioned brand. He has long led the development of global automotive safety technology, quickly adapted to and based on the Chinese market after entering the Geely system, and took the lead in becoming the first luxury automobile manufacturer to fully adopt electrification technology. At the micro level, specific products, technologies and marketing are constantly moving, just on March 1, volvo XC60 plug-in mixed version completed the challenge of "pulling ships", causing heated discussion.
However, these are "the tip of the iceberg", and in places where more outsiders are invisible, Chinpeiji, who believes in "first principles", is constantly promoting change within the organization with another style.
For example, to solve the problem of traditional car companies being too far away from customers, it is necessary to learn the new forces to "face to face" with customers, ChinPeiji single-handedly, increase the "weight" of the CRM (customer relationship management) department, the method is also very straight, the CRM is upgraded to a first-level department, breaking down barriers, giving power to give money and people. "When these points are done, the department will become dynamic."
Chinpeig is more willing to use the phrase "breaking down barriers" than the "innovation" that must be mentioned in the industry. In his view, this is a description that is closer to the essence of "innovation".
At the beginning of this year, Chinpeiji led the team to complete a "big project", and volvo's aftermarket spare parts system achieved successful docking with JD Logistics. This means that 70% to 80% of after-sales emergency spare parts orders can be delivered the next day, which greatly shortens the waiting time after the owner sends for repair, and also allows dealers to accurately grasp the logistics of spare parts and better serve customers. It is estimated that this matter is difficult to show any exposure in Volvo's new product promotion, but it can indeed alleviate the "car anxiety" after many car owners have sent their vehicles for repair, and solve the real pain points of users.
In order to achieve this little bit of "innovation", what Chinpeige and his team need to break is the deep-rooted perception of the traditional automotive industry. After all, in any car company, it is not easy to convince the headquarters to open up spare parts data.
In Volvo's after-sales service KPIs, 75% are indicators related to user satisfaction. In Chinpeiji's view, as long as the user satisfaction is done, everything else is a matter of course.
Less routine, more "sincerity"
Chinpeig didn't seem satisfied with his 2021 job performance, and when asked how many points he could give to his 2021 job, he said he could only score 80. "Although it seems that we have transformed very quickly, I think it should be faster." 80 points is a bit versailles, but from the "long-termism" and "first principles" that Chinpeige has repeatedly mentioned, Volvo's transformation has obviously just begun.
The key to promoting change must return to chinpeighi's "truth-seeking" attitude.
First of all, in the face of the market and users, we must be "honest" enough. Work is done for users, not for leaders. This is the point that Chinpeighi insists on. Whether it is products or marketing, which are the real needs of users and which are just marketing gimmicks of enterprises? "Users don't know this, some brands are also unclear, just look at the dazzling but often unknown car machine functions." Chinpeig used the function of the locomotive system as an example.
In the face of the internal enterprise, it is necessary to be "honest" enough. A real case is that in 2018, Volvo suffered a decline in performance, and at the most difficult time, Chinpeige, then vice president of sales, chose to report truthfully to the headquarters and asked the headquarters to subsidize the dealers, rather than continue to press the warehouse to let the dealers rush. Chinpeig's decision to "gamble on his career" has preserved volvo's channel power. "If we hadn't invested at that point, no matter how much money and effort we spent after two years, we wouldn't be able to recover the loss."
As for the starting point of the decision, Chinpeiggi said: "You have a question: If this company were your own, what would you do?" If you make a decision with such a mentality, it must be very bad. ”
Of course, "sincerity" is simple to say, and it is not easy to do. Chinpeiji also admitted that in his work, "the biggest realization is that it is not easy to achieve the words truth-seeking." Fortunately, the person concerned firmly believes in "sincerity", and the environment in which he is located allows and even encourages "sincerity".
Therefore, back to the beginning, when hearing various pessimistic remarks about the transformation of traditional models in the industry, Chinpeiji's heart must be unimpressed. In the final analysis, whether an enterprise, whether it is new or old, whether it can continue to move forward, the key depends on the things in the bones, whether there is the ability and determination to continue to feed innovation.
The "honest" Volvo, obviously from the beginning, has full potential.