"Technology Era: Telling the Stories of 100 People" is an annual feature launched by Lei Technology, produced by Lei Technology Deep Team. In the era of science and technology, not only industry giants are "heroes", but also many participants. This feature focuses on the amazing civilian heroes around you and me, presenting the truth of technology from an alternative perspective through their deeds and through their perspectives.
For us, mobile phones have become a necessity of life, in order to make mobile phones can accompany us longer, many people will choose to put a cover on it, and even buy hundreds of yuan of extended warranty services for it. Similarly, in order to provide consumers with more perfect and excellent after-sales service, mobile phone manufacturers will also choose to choose to store stores and attract more professionals, after all, for most consumers, only with a sufficiently excellent after-sales experience can they be called a first-line big brand, and then they will give priority to buying products of this brand.
And today we want to talk not about which mobile phone manufacturer's after-sales service is in place, how perfect, nor to talk to those salespeople standing in front of the stage, but from the perspective of ordinary people to understand what kind of people these people who provide us with perfect after-sales service.
Lei Technology recently had the honor to interview the after-sales maintenance personnel from a large factory, and his sophisticated maintenance technology and rich experience also made him a big brother in the store. How did he go from being a shop keeper to a teacher who can now stand alone?
It was a time of hope
2015 is the most brilliant era of the domestic smartphone market, Xiaomi, Meizu, Pepper, Coolpad, Samsung, LG these brands are in full swing in that year, under the fierce competition, the price of smart phones has also dropped from five or six thousand yuan at the beginning to one or two thousand yuan, and the entire market is thriving. And today's protagonist Xiaozhuang also came into contact with smart phones during this time period, and he especially enjoys the sense of achievement of disassembling all mobile phones and reassembling them back, which also makes him the premier "mobile phone repair" god in school.
Speaking of this, he actually felt very embarrassed, after all, his parents and teachers still hoped that he could focus on learning instead of making these messes, anyway, learning must be a good way out. But at that time, he was a little rebellious, did not follow the advice of his parents and teachers, still went his own way, and after graduating from high school, he took the craftsmanship he had accumulated for "many years" to Shenzhen, the "mobile phone capital" - Shenzhen.
With the help of relatives, he smoothly became a clerk in a roadside mobile phone store, and he was a little happy to see the new smartphones full of cabinets and the number of various mobile phone accessories overflowing. But after working for half a year, he slowly found that this work was not the same as he imagined, not only failed to learn anything, but also had to face the customer's doubts every day, thinking that you just have to charge him a hundred yuan for changing the battery, and often the price has not been negotiated after the mobile phone has been repaired. Not only did he not make much money, but he also held his stomach.
After resigning, he still chose the road of mobile phone repair, but this time the stage changed from a roadside shop to a mobile phone after-sales department. But the threshold of the mobile phone after-sales department can be much higher than before, to often learn and be familiar with the internal structure of various models and various professional terms, but fortunately, the salary is stable, there are special dormitories and five insurances and one housing fund, how to look at it is much more promising than being a primary apprentice in a small store before.
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So after more than a month of study and training, Xiaozhuang officially entered the after-sales department of a mobile phone manufacturer and became an after-sales maintenance personnel, and what he did every day was to change the battery, change the back cover, and repair the motherboard for customers on a table full of accessories and tools. Although the work is a bit boring, the proportion of time-consuming and energy-consuming items such as repairing the motherboard and changing the screen assembly is small, and the maintenance work in most cases is relatively simple.
But anyway, as a big brand, its after-sales maintenance workload is still not a level with before, especially on weekends, when there is a lot of traffic, there are often cases where in addition to eating and drinking water and toilets, the rest of the time is all repairing mobile phones, if you accidentally shake your hands during the maintenance process, it will delay time. Such a high-intensity work also made him a little uncomfortable, but after thinking of higher pay and broader prospects, he still chose to endure, after all, this is also one of the few craftsmanship that he can use to eat and make money.
A few months later, looking at the WeChat balance with growing numbers, Xiaozhuang also made up his mind to continue to study hard and strive for an early promotion so that he could earn more money.
A little irritable, but still able to do it
Although most of Xiaozhuang's working time is in the maintenance room, he also hears some experiences that are somewhat offensive and even angry from shopping guide colleagues. Not all consumers are good-tempered, especially the older generation of consumers will have a more urgent temper than the younger ones. Some temperamental users will say: "The external screen of the mobile phone is broken, why should I change a whole set?" The phone is in water, you test that the motherboard is faulty, why do I put it at home for a few days to use? The touch screen of the mobile phone does not work, quality problems, why is it said that the mobile phone has scratches and damage is not good warranty, to pay for maintenance?" In this case, your attempt to reason with him will certainly not make sense.
Xiaozhuang often meets some customers who make unreasonable demands, but at first he did not understand, thinking that why has the simple process of "your phone is broken, I will fix it for you, you give me money" has become so complicated? Not to mention those who want to go through the warranty process because of some very small problems, they cannot say without authorization that they can not be guaranteed or can be guaranteed, and they must also report to the leader, if the machine that cannot be guaranteed to the user is guaranteed, involving replacement accessories, in the end the money to pay is deducted from his salary. It is precisely because of experiencing too many such situations that Xiaozhuang will become more and more cautious, even if he encounters those customers who really have no money to repair their mobile phones, he does not dare to be too soft-hearted, for fear of being entangled by some unreasonable customers.
Filmed by Ray Technology
"Especially at a time when the brand is increasingly focused on customer satisfaction, all the work revolves around customer satisfaction, and a dissatisfaction for whatever reason can affect my performance and salary, so I try to keep users happy while spending less." Xiaozhuang said.
Counting the previous internship life, Xiaozhuang has been in the mobile phone repair industry for five full years, he has seen a variety of users, can not charge money without money, can be guaranteed as much as possible warranty treatment, of course, some serious faulty machines are also communicated with users over and over again, persuaded to try not to repair. When encountering strange users, the appearance of the mobile phone is only a little scratched, and if you want to spend thousands of pieces to make the after-sales change to a new machine (or even want to change a new color), you can only persuade them little by little, trying to let customers understand that after-sales also need to comply with the regulations, and not completely according to the customer's requirements, otherwise it will be completely messed up.
In addition, the advancement of mobile phone technology has also made its internal integration higher and higher, and the arrangement of various components is becoming more and more ingenious, which is undoubtedly bad news for maintenance personnel, which means that they need higher concentration and time when repairing mobile phones, and a slight mistake may also break some components, and in the end they have to pay for it themselves. However, Xiaozhuang believes that this is also a good thing, and the increasing difficulty of mobile phone repair can also make those users who could have repaired their mobile phones themselves "retreat".
Maybe from our point of view, Xiaozhuang's words are a little gloating, but this is his job, and he just wants to make more money to support his life.
From the faces of my colleagues, I saw a hint of anxiety
When it seemed that Xiaozhuang's job was booming, the three-year cold wave in the mobile phone market also seriously affected his income and life. Mobile phone market shipments have been declining since 2019, and by 2022, China's smartphone market shipments were only 286 million units, down 13.2% year-on-year, the largest decline ever. After 10 years, China's smartphone market shipments have fallen back to the market below 300 million. The "Finbull winter" belonging to the mobile phone market has not completely passed, and the cake of mobile phone manufacturers is naturally getting less and less, in order to save costs, they can only choose to reduce wages or directly fire some unnecessary employees.
Image source: IDC
Although Xiaozhuang was not laid off by the store with his "good craftsmanship", he can also clearly feel that the originally lively store has gradually become deserted, especially in November last year, sometimes the number of customers who came in all day was not as many as the store staff, let alone pay for mobile phones, the flow of people represents income, even if the salesmen have a good eloquence, they can't let the air pay for it.
When communicating with the colleagues in charge of shopping guides, he learned that now some e-commerce platforms in order to make a hit, often use stickers to sell mobile phones, and even some new machines that have just been listed can drop one or two hundred yuan, plus now even the elderly understand that online things are cheaper, the flow of people is naturally getting less and less, offline mobile phones can not be sold, and they can't get commissions.
In order to attract more users to buy mobile phones, they also took out twelve points of sincerity: buy mobile phones to give a year of broken screen insurance, a variety of small gifts (worth tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan), lifelong free film and cleaning mobile phones and other services, but the effect is still very little, in the store to buy mobile phones are less and less, many colleagues in charge of shopping guides have resigned, Xiaozhuang was also dragged from the maintenance room to the hall in the store at this time to deal with some simple work such as film and cleaning dust for customers. Wait until it's time to repair your phone before returning to that familiar work desk.
When Xiaozhuang came from the closed repair room to the brightly lit hall, he was not happy, but felt a trace of anxiety from the empty storefront and the faces of his colleagues. "Maybe the glorious era of smartphones is really over," Xiaozhuang said in dismay.
Fortunately, although the frequency of changing mobile phones is getting lower and lower, it also means that more and more old mobile phones need repair services, and their current life and income have not been greatly affected.
However, no one knows how long the "Fenbull winter" in the mobile phone market will last, and Xiaozhuang can't guess when he will become a state of no work and no money to take like those shopping guide colleagues, maybe when that day comes, his choice should be to leave. "No matter what kind of work has two sides, now the pressure is increasing, not only the pressure of the brand, but also the pressure of the company, and I don't know how long I can last in this industry, until the end, who knows?"
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From the perspective of the market, the smart phone market is still relatively stable, at least in the next three or five years there will be no big crash, but the trend of "more monks and less porridge" will only become more and more obvious, even Xiaozhuang, a "teacher" who has been in the after-sales maintenance industry for five years, has to face the risk of being fired at any time.
Xiaozhuang expressed to Xiaolei more than once in the conversation the idea of regret, regretting that he did not pay attention to his studies and came out to work early, if he had a bachelor's degree or maybe there was a greater chance of promotion, as a technical supervisor or lecturer, then life must be happier and more satisfactory, rather than like now, although he has a skill but may be abandoned by the market at any time.
"To be honest, it's useless to say this now, after all, there is no regret medicine in the world, and all you can do is continue to do the work at hand." After saying this pessimistic sentence, Xiaozhuang said that he could clearly feel that the flow of people in the store after the year has become larger again, although it is not as grand as before hundreds of people a day, but the success rate of shopping guide colleagues during this time is much higher, and it seems that he can stay in this industry where he has paid for five years of youth and sweat for a few more years.
As long as there is hope, it is worth the effort
Will things get better in 2023? This seems like a difficult question to predict. However, compared with 2022, the biggest benefit of the mobile phone market in 2023 should be that the impact of the epidemic on the entire industry will be further reduced. Especially in China, the world's largest mobile phone market, with the adjustment of policies and the gradual recovery of the economy, the previous interruption of the industrial chain due to special reasons, the situation of short supply will no longer exist. The recovery of the economy is also expected to boost the confidence of the entire market and consumers, and the gradual recovery of supply and demand is a rare opportunity for the current mobile phone market.
The good news is that now the domestic mobile phone market is gradually recovering, especially after the technology related to folding screen mobile phones is mature and the price is more intimate, more and more customers come to the store to inquire and buy folding screen mobile phones. This is another huge challenge for Xiaozhuang, folding screen mobile phone is not just two mobile phones put together as simple, he needs to spend more time to study the arrangement of mobile phones.
But anyway, the store where Xiaozhuang is currently in is getting lively little by little, although there are some touching parties (leaving after touching or placing orders online), but it is much better than not seeing a few people all day before, you say.
Note: Due to the inconvenience of revealing the identity of the interviewee, the names in the article are pseudonyms, and the pictures are taken online and nearby, and do not involve the stores and people in the article.
This content is the author's independent opinion, may not be reproduced without permission, please contact [email protected] for cooperation