In recent years, the rapid development of new energy vehicles and smart driving and the influx of the Internet and new car manufacturing companies have caused some impact on the traditional car makers. Adapting to the changes and innovations of the times has become a challenge that traditional car makers can not afford How to develop in the future? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional car companies in the Internet age? How should traditional car companies embrace and learn the Internet model? Recently, the Mercedes-Benz Customer Experience Alliance (CEU) featuring the Internet model ) Caused great concern to the industry.
'Internet +', the era of big data has come, it infiltrates into all aspects of social production and life, profoundly changes the operation mode of human society, and the auto industry as the pillar of the national economy has undergone profound changes in the meantime. People-oriented are Internet-based thinking Starting point, the car sales model also shifted from product brand as the core to the consumer experience as the core. In 2016, Mercedes-Benz launched the strategy of "best customer experience". It came into being in this context for the first time The concept of customer experience to enhance the brand strategy, and as the basis for the realization of future development and brand building competitive differentiation at the heart of the core.However, the Internet-based customer experience at the heart of the implementation of traditional car prices there is a huge Challenges, such as 'small steps, iterations, trial and error, run' and other Internet models in the traditional car division of the various departments of the functional division is difficult to achieve. Mercedes-Benz to creative thinking to break the original internal barriers to cross-sectoral experience innovation , Established the Customer Experience Alliance (CEU) in May 2017, which was formed to provide Mercedes-Benz 'best customer experience' strategy Important organizational guarantee, and achieved initial results, and Mercedes-Benz in China's rapid development has provided effective support in the traditional car prices and the depth of the Internet into the trend of today, Mercedes-Benz customer experience in the new thinking and practice will undoubtedly all Traditional car prices in the Internet and the era of big data transformation and upgrading has an important reference value in the recently held 'Mercedes-Benz Customer Experience Media Technology 2017' event, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales & Service Co., Ltd. Advanced Executive Vice President Mr. Li Hongpeng accepted an interview with our correspondents to conduct in-depth exchanges on the thinking and practice of Mercedes-Benz 'best customer experience' strategy and customer experience alliance.
Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales and Service Co., Ltd. Senior Executive Vice President Li Hongpeng
Customer Experience Alliance: Breaking internal barriers and fully integrating business resources
"Car aspect": As the world's first inventor of the car, Mercedes-Benz brand has maintained a century-old innovative vitality, especially the Internet model features the "Customer Experience Alliance" really make everyone admirable introduction, people saw a constant Reflective, continuous learning, continuous improvement of Mercedes-Benz, could introduce the original intention and background of the establishment of customer experience alliance.
Li Hongpeng: Customer Experience Unit (CEA) is both a form of work and an entirely new organization, and its purpose is to better serve the future customers of Mercedes-Benz and to create a better customer experience with future thinking The past, the organizational structure set up, mostly around our products and product-related services, formed the sales, marketing, network development such an organizational structure, and related functions.But whether there is a real department for all customers It's hard to think about it, because there was no such form of organization in the past, and it was hard for customer service to get through to the boundaries of other functions, despite the dedicated customer service department. In order to better implement the concept of 'Leadership 2020', in May this year we set up the Customer Experience Alliance (CEU) to break the internal barriers and fully integrate the enterprise resources to realize the original operation mode A convenient and efficient management, to further improve the customer demand for changes in the efficiency of the response we have built a The core team has a digital thinking, thinking specialized digital services and products; the same time, agile and efficient management, multi-sectoral collaboration to promote the development of digital services and modes of digital products to a whole new level.
Agile work mode: quickly completed, fast learning, rapid iteration
"Car aspect": As a practice of deep integration of Internet and traditional car prices, the launch of 'Customer Experience Alliance' has always been of great concern to the industry. Could you please introduce how the 'Customer Experience Alliance' works and operates?
Li Hongpeng: The Customer Experience Alliance forms the corresponding clusters according to the project theme, breaking internal barriers and experiencing the power of cross-sectoral experience innovation, promoting every project from project development and implementation to promotion. The CEU absorbed talents from different departments together CEA has a number of dynamic themed clusters and a support module covering 28 projects, divided into 4 dynamic groups and a support module, including: digital customer experience, e-commerce, retail customer experience And customer data applications, all of which are common to all customer-oriented, digital, agile, and cross-departmental collaborations. The way CEU works is quickly done, quickly learned, and quickly iterated using agile working principles like startups. What is needed is a car that follows the traditional way of working and does not meet the needs of the customer until the final vehicle is assembled and delivered.Quick work style will provide the minimum feasible product to quickly meet customer needs while constantly The product is iterated and optimized until it fully satisfies the customer's diversity demand.
Let's take a simple example, 'Benz Chi Autopass' is a salesperson digital, paperless online trading platform.First, the German headquarters from 2012 onwards, based on the future of the global market how to deal with the understanding, probably spent Four or five years to develop a POS system for the global market, but when developed to us, China has entered the era of mobile Internet.The system is based on computer operations and development, can not be achieved mobile phone operation Later, we decided to quickly solve this problem in China by developing a set of systems adapted to the Chinese market, which we developed in less than a year through the CEU model, and we developed it in an iterative manner , To solve the most important problems first, leaving some issues that may need to be solved in the next version or next version, but we will update the version every month.At the same time, we guide distributors to change their usage habits , Change the traditional thinking of the transaction by updating a version every month, and gradually solve the problem.Currently unsolved problems, in the future Within one year.This is CEU transcend the traditional model, effectively listen to the voice of the customer, the organizational form to solve market problems, but also unique to the Chinese market.
'Mercedes-Benz Autopass' is a salesperson digital, paperless online trading platform
We promote the agile work in China, but also Daimler advocacy around the world.We can put people from all sectors together to solve a problem, and directly formed a customer experience such an organization.At present, there are 60 have the right Full-time technical staff assigned to 15 projects.
Car aspect: This Agile work model of Customer Experience Alliance, which is 'done quickly, quickly learned, quickly iterated', is very much in line with current internet thinking, and as I understand it, almost all Internet companies have adopted a similar way of working, But for such a traditional business like Mercedes-Benz, the implementation of the degree of difficulty?
Li Hongpeng: The implementation of this way of working is indeed facing considerable challenges, from the organizational structure, the need to better handle the original department and the new project group relations, functions, etc. At the same time from the leadership to employees have an adaptation Process that makes it difficult to jump from a comfort zone into a non-comfort zone because everyone is doing it the way they are used to. An employee is sent from the original post to a new project team and after the project is completed To return to the original department, to accept the assessment of the original leadership.Customer Experience Alliance project has a leader, that is, the project organizer, but the staff does not have direct leadership.While volunteering to join the project, which is a flexible form of organization , But the elimination mechanism is very strict.In order to adapt to this new organizational form, we must create a new culture and environment, so that those who want to work can concentrate on doing and can do a good job.In more than six months, CEU has been to customers with To many surprises, but also to our internal a lot of positive changes, including synergy, staff thinking and the results achieved, I believe the future CEU will give us To more unlimited imagination.
New ecosystem: customers put the top position, manufacturers melt
"Car aspect": best customer experience strategy and customer experience alliance reflects Mercedes-Benz in the Internet era of deep thinking, how do you think of the Internet and the traditional automotive industry convergence?
Li Hongpeng: Internet is relying on people's platform, the platform has a high-frequency contact with the brand's customer base, creating high-frequency contacts may appear dissatisfied with the customer, but it does not matter, as long as the problem can be found at any time and resolved in time, will eventually form a relatively stable Effective platform.In learning from the advantages of the Internet, through continuous practice and thinking, we are deeply aware of the need to create a new ecosystem, not only is the integration of manufacturers and distributors, but should put the customer first, The formation of a customer-centric new ecosystem - manufacturers, distributors around the customer to create a new platform for customer experience, tangible channel distributor system and intangible channels online platform for integration with each other.This online and offline integration As the characteristics of the new retail model, highlighting the advantages of traditional car sales network.With the Internet thinking, the traditional car prices compared to the new car will have a more powerful competitiveness.
We are constantly thinking in the process of studying internet thinking.Traditional thinking regards car sales as a one-off transaction, and the relationship between manufacturer and customer is just the sale and purchase relationship, the satisfaction of a transaction is valued, but the customer and brand are ignored This is because the traditional organizational form is not enough to support the realization of this function, there is no way to form a circle Today, we put forward this topic, but also reflects the traditional industries in this area to learn from the spirit of emerging industries Emerging formats represented by Internet companies Compared with traditional industries, their thinking mode and rules of conduct make them more sensitive to the market control, easier to try new things, while the traditional formats are more stable. Together, but any online thinking, mode, and ultimately return to the line to achieve and landing.What is the lack of traditional 4S shop model is the positioning of 4S shop functions and human functions too simple, it is right The role of human positioning, capacity-building, training, assessment and other not around the people-centered ecosystem, but based on product sales. Ecology And the new retail model have subverted some of the stereotyped thinking of the traditional industries from the provision of products and products related services to provide services around the people. Previously, we are proud of the sales figures, the future, we should be proud of how much Customer base and the platform that connects this group. After forming a new ecosystem, we can add more services and businesses that can improve customer's stickiness, making the 4S shop a high-end customer experience place with high Quality lifestyle experience center.
New retail model: to give up the functional, to meet all customer experience
Car aspect: Customer Experience Alliance plays a crucial role in the overall best customer experience strategy of Mercedes-Benz. What are your thoughts and outlooks on the key work of the customer experience Alliance in the future?
Li Hongpeng: First of all, it will further promote the organic integration of online and offline. By 2020, Mercedes-Benz will work together with dealers to create a brand new customer experience ecosystem that provides the best Mercedes-Benz owners with the best online and offline customer experience network The Mercedes-Benz e-commerce platform was officially launched on December 31, 2016. It is committed to providing customers with convenient services such as online car viewing, chatting, car selection and car ordering. As of December 15, 2017, The platform has been able to provide online viewing, introduction, car selection and car ordering services for a total of 127 models of 38 models of Mercedes-Benz, covering 476 dealers across 217 cities nationwide. Under the line of dealership, further activation of the entire dealer channels, and make it an important Mercedes-Benz brand sales and development of an important basis.
The second is to strengthen the physical store customer experience.Mercedes-Benz 's "new retail model" will be through the big data and digital multimedia technology and Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz showroom to introduce the high quality of life elements, so Mercedes-Benz showroom more warm, more humane, Let the traditional 4S shop evolve into a brand new customer experience place.At the 2015 dealer conference, I said that the future will be replaced by S S, E is the service, E is the experience. 4S shop's four functions are For the four business units, 4S shop includes new car sales, after sales, spare parts, information feedback, these are not enough to be able to do to reseller.Enabling should be functional to give up, to meet all customer experience. In the future, cross-sectoral cooperation is also possible, and the 4S shop will not only serve as a place for customers to buy a car, but customers will also be able to dine, meet friends and shop more. Customers prefer to shop for more powerful functions and better experiences. Circles and consumer scenes, customers will be high-frequency patronage, so that customers not only to buy a car before going to the store.
Mercedes me owners club was officially launched
The third is to effectively promote the process of "digitization." The latest development of the 'Mercedes-Benz Handy Link' is designed for dealers and employees to create a close docking with the Mercedes-Benz e-commerce platform for mobile terminal system tools for the first time in the automotive industry will be the entire business The process of digital, has now been extended to all dealers across the country. At the same time the rapid promotion of digital network exhibition hall, from 2016 onwards, mainly the digital exhibition hall hardware upgrade, can be called 1.0 version, by the end of 2017, will be the first to achieve distribution Business Network Digital Hall 100% of the entire network coverage, in order to improve customer interaction experience and communication is currently planning 2.0 version of the model shop, the digital hardware and systems integration with the integrity of the brand experience, the experience of the system to ensure that customers can according to I like to see the product I want to know at any time.A new model shop will be launched in early 2018, we will work together with the dealer, in all aspects of continuous improvement, to achieve a comprehensive upgrade experience.
In the future, our backstage can integrate the data and then build the big data platform based on the data obtained from the Internet.At present, our data is stored on different platforms, including sales, after sales and marketing departments, and the barriers between these data need to be real get through.
The fourth is continuing to build Mercedes-Benz owner clubs that bring a distinguished experience, to date, more than 100 dealers have joined the Mercedes me owners club, the number of members more than 150,000 people, covering eight cities in China - Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen Chongqing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Xiamen. More dealerships and owners will join in 2018. Owners clubs provide generous membership benefits, rich member-specific activities, convenient shared travel services and points Mall platform; also created a coverage of new car sales, after-sales service, finance, travel, health, education, tourism, entertainment and many other ecological service system.