Chapter 23 2. A company without after-sales service is a good company

Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese thinker, has a famous saying: "Every difficult thing in the world must be done in an easy way; a major event in the world must be done in a small way."Details, although small and meticulous, are a serious attitude and a scientific spirit.Marketing is not the most important thing to insist on doing a good job in air conditioning at all costs with the spirit of sitting on the hot and cold benches.Steadily create perfect new products, reject exaggeration and hype, and create a perfect corporate image with products that do not require after-sales.Stepping into the 21st century, how can a well-known brand stabilize its competitive advantage?Stepping into the era of service economy, customer service process is the key point that needs to be strengthened most in distribution activities in the 21st century. High-quality service is not only a weapon for market competition, but also a skill for enterprise survival.In the eyes of many people, customer service is after-sales service, and after-sales service refers to maintenance services, but Gree Electric Appliances has always been different in its propositions and practices.As a benchmark figure in the industry, Dong Mingzhu has her own unique understanding and profound interpretation of after-sales service: a product without service is a really good product, and a company without after-sales service is a good company.The business philosophy of Gree Electric Appliances is very simple, that is, the small things for consumers are the big things for the company, and we must use this business philosophy to manufacture products and have a responsible attitude towards consumers.After-sales maintenance service is actually a kind of trouble and harassment to consumers, because consumers do not buy back to call every day to ask for door-to-door service.Many people say that companies with good after-sales service can make consumers feel at ease, but companies that promise not to need after-sales service may be more reassuring.Since 1997, Gree has proposed to emphasize pre-sales and in-sales services, not to avoid after-sales services, but to do a good job in front-end quality control to effectively reduce the cost of after-sales repair services.

Since 2003, Gree Air Conditioning has successively put forward the service concept of "service without after-sales service is the best service" and "no meeting with users for 8 years", and has adopted active and effective measures in production, manufacturing, logistics, sales, installation and other links. The measures have enabled Gree Air Conditioning to move towards this goal.In the early stage of reform and opening up, when the quality of domestic home appliances was uneven and the market materials were not abundant, the quality of the products of enterprises was demanded regardless of whether they were good or bad. At that time, the most important thing for consumers was after-sales service.Consumers are most worried about what to do if the product is broken and no one repairs it?Because re-buying is not necessarily available or affordable.With the development of reform and opening up and changes in consumption concepts, consumers' self-protection awareness has begun to strengthen. What consumers need is not products that need to be repaired, but high-quality products.In the air conditioner market, many brands claim to provide 24-hour service. After the product is installed, they will call back to ask if the air conditioner is installed well and whether there is any problem in operation.Unlike many companies that are busy dealing with after-sales maintenance problems one after another, Gree focuses on the quality of pre-sale air conditioners and selects high-quality components regardless of cost.To ensure the quality of air conditioners, Gree starts from the source—the raw materials. “Before you buy, we have already given you sufficient guarantee.” This is Gree’s purpose of concentrating on the quality of air conditioners.An ordinary air conditioner needs at least 1,500 parts, and the quality of any part will affect the quality of the whole machine. In order to solve this problem that any manufacturer will encounter, Gree Electric Appliances has used a stupid method: set up a Chinese air conditioner manufacturer The unique parts inspection organization - the screening branch factory, more than 500 employees specially conduct strict screening for all parts, and all unqualified parts will not be put on the production line.Air conditioners have always had the saying of "three points for products, seven points for installation". Another point that is emphasized in the product sales process is standardized installation.The air conditioner can only be used after installation, and the price of an air conditioner will include the cost of the manufacturer to the installation company.Some air-conditioning companies have the idea of ​​reducing installation costs because their own profit margins are being squeezed.For example, the installation cost of many air-conditioning brands in 2005 was about 150 yuan. After deducting the management fee for the manufacturer, the remaining 110 yuan, the installation company then paid about 80 yuan for labor, hanger screws, vehicle communication and other costs. The space is about 30 yuan.But once the manufacturer lowers the installation cost, the installation company will inevitably discount the quality of accessories and labor equipment, and reduce or even deduct wages of workers.Without installation, there will be no air conditioner consumers, and without installation, there will be no sales.Dong Mingzhu believes that as far as Gree's product quality and reliability are concerned, as long as the standard installation is achieved, there will be very few problems after sales.Among Gree's few after-sales service cases every year, 80% are caused by the failure of service agents to implement installation according to the specifications.

Therefore, Gree guarantees in-sale installation services from the product price, and includes the installation costs into the product cost, and the dealers or maintenance points implement free installation for users, and the installation fees are settled directly by the distributors with the factory or regional sales companies. Ensure the installation quality.It is understood that in recent years, Gree has further strengthened the standardized management of in-sale installations.Every year, a lot of manpower, financial and material resources are invested in the training of installation technicians in service outlets across the country, and supervision, rewards and punishments are carried out on the quality of installation.For example, Gree stipulates in the installation service that the installation process must be carried out in strict accordance with the operation manual issued by the Zhuhai headquarters. The headquarters will also regularly track and shoot the installation live of each installer, and play it for comparison during meetings. Warnings or fines will be issued for irregularities. .At the same time, Gree's installation specification emphasizes service details. For example, many manufacturers of outdoor unit hangers only drill 4 holes, while Gree requires that 6 holes with a depth of 10cm must be drilled, and the corners of the pipelines must also be at right angles. It also makes full use of the original materials, and eliminates the deliberate detours and over-charged material costs to users.As we all know, the after-sales service of air conditioners has always been the most troublesome part for enterprises. Repairing an air conditioner can even consume all the profits from selling an air conditioner.The formation of the air-conditioning buyer's market has brought vicious competition between manufacturers and merchants, especially among merchants operating the same brand. Merchants cannot guarantee to provide consumers with high-quality services without reasonable profits, and consumers have suffered greatly.Some air-conditioning sales channels disregarded the market order, rushed goods at low prices, and disturbed the market order.The hustle and bustle of the air conditioner price war has left many bad consequences for people. The number of complaints about air conditioners due to factors such as quality has increased month by month, far exceeding other home appliances. caused considerable trouble.In 2001 alone, Beijing Industrial and Commercial Bureau accepted 43 air-conditioning complaints in May, and the number of air-conditioning complaints in June increased by nearly 50% compared with May.Statistics from the China Consumers Association show that in the first quarter of 2001, there were 1,064 national complaints about air conditioners, including 850 complaints about quality problems, which was much more than the same period in 2000.These complaints focus on the air conditioner's failure to heat, unreasonable installation, failure to repair in time, and freezing of outdoor units.In terms of service network construction, Gree conducts unified and standardized sales and services through sales companies, which not only guarantees the rights and interests of consumers to a large extent, but also protects manufacturers and dealers from having reasonable profit margins.Gree has established more than 5,000 after-sales service outlets across the country, with 30,000 trained after-sales service personnel.A series of unique new measures in the industry have been launched successively, such as the "Room Air Conditioner Installation and Training Qualification Certificate" and the "Gree Air Conditioner Installation Qualification Certificate" for installation personnel, the "Quick Response Team" for maintenance services, and the "Gree Expert Service Column". The service is promoted to a new level, ensuring a rapid response to consumer needs. The service concept of "customer benefit first, Gree benefit second" is an extension of Gree Electric's service organization concept.Dong Mingzhu has repeatedly emphasized that the company will only be rewarded if the customer's investment is rewarded.Gree Electric has many examples to prove it. For example, Gree Electric has a star service standard: the pressure will always be borne by Gree.

On January 1, 2005, all Gree household air conditioner products implemented the new after-sales service standard of "6 years of free repair for the whole machine", while the national mandatory standard for air conditioners is "one year for the whole machine and three years for main spare parts". Year", which not only greatly exceeded the national standard, but also exceeded the international standard.According to the service life of ordinary air conditioners of eight to ten years, Gree's after-sales service standard of "six-year warranty for the whole machine" actually means free warranty for life.This means that Gree's move has surpassed all current domestic air-conditioning brands, making Gree air-conditioning another beacon of global after-sales service.Air conditioners are known as "semi-finished products", and in 2005, when the profits of air conditioners continued to decrease, the implementation of such service standards will undoubtedly greatly increase Gree's production costs.Why did Gree make such a request for himself?Dong Mingzhu said that this requirement is not only a promise to consumers, but also a harsh requirement for Gree itself.The promise must be fulfilled and be responsible to consumers, which forces Gree to make its products better. It seems to be a promise invisibly, but it is actually a challenge to itself.Gree has the strength to bear this commitment. First of all, because of the quality control, in fact, there is almost no maintenance within six years, so the cost of maintenance has dropped instead, and consumers have obtained more benefits.This move completely eliminated the worries of consumers and protected the interests of consumers. The threshold of competition in the industry was thus raised. Some air-conditioning companies with poor quality had to withdraw from the air-conditioning industry under heavy pressure. Opponents followed suit one after another and began to align with Gree's standards.Chigo Air Conditioning has set a higher standard than Gree: the compressor is guaranteed free for 6 years, and all other parts are replaced for free within 10 years, and all labor costs and on-site service fees are exempted.Galanz implements 12-year free repair, becoming the air-conditioning company with the highest after-sales service standard in the world.In addition to the "6-year warranty for the whole machine", Gree advocates "no meeting with consumers for eight years", "1+1=0 (first-class product quality plus first-class installation service equals zero complaints)", and the million-dollar prize promotion "Zero Defect Project" and so on have contributed to Gree becoming the air-conditioning company with the highest after-sales service standards in the world.Gree's failure rate is maintained at 1/10,000, while its peers are only 1/1,000.

In 2004, Gree sold more than 7 million air conditioners. If 1% of them were broken, 70,000 units would need to be repaired, and it would cost 100 to 200 million yuan, which is actually only a few million yuan. In 2007, Gree sold 22 million air conditioners, and the maintenance cost was only 10 million yuan, far lower than the after-sales costs of competitors of the same scale.Dong Mingzhu emphasized that the maintenance service should change from virtual to real, and at the same time, it must cooperate with consumers to provide good service. Product performance should change from self-knowledge to consumer understanding. Traditional "programs" - large-scale return visits to users.Since 1999, Gree took the lead in launching the "8 million user return visits", "10 million user return visits" and "30 million user return visits" in the industry, maintaining millions of air conditioners for free, which has been maintained until now.

In October 2005, Gree carried out the "Looking for Gree 11-year-old users" extensively in Guangzhou, which not only won the support of consumers, but also attracted media attention. During the short 7-day National Day holiday, nearly a hundred Gree 11 users were found. Older users, even Gree old users of 12 and 13 years.In similar activities in Beijing, even 15-year old Gree users were found, which is also one of the air conditioners with the longest service life found so far.During the return visit, Gree not only provided new and old users with standardized air-conditioner maintenance services for free, but also introduced common sense about the use, maintenance and maintenance of air-conditioners to users, distributed service supervision cards, and collected useful suggestions.Obviously, the return visit will play an important role in strengthening the Gree brand and promoting product sales.This small move reflects a major defense of Gree's business philosophy, and has won a high honor in the minds of consumers.Dong Mingzhu believes that Gree's trinity service system of pre-sales, sales and after-sales initiated and implemented is fundamentally aimed at establishing a good credit image in the market and doing some exploration for China's credit construction.For an enterprise, only by being honest can it be possible to obtain reliable partners, establish a brand image, and achieve sustainable development.