In recent years, as market competition in the building ceramics industry continues to intensify, some ceramic tile brands have begun to realize the limitations of industry awareness and have begun to transform into building consumer awareness brands. In this transformation process, they are bound to face many complex and complicated problems, which affect the whole body. In order to solve these problems, an all-round, three-dimensional and multi-angle systematic reform has become inevitable. At the same time, solving the after-sales service problem is urgent and requires perseverance.
As we all know, after-sales service has always been a weak point of the building ceramics industry. To this day, the reason why it has not become a criticism of this industry is, to a certain extent, thanks to the material properties of ceramic tiles as durable goods, and also because of the "partner" of the decoration industry. After-sales issues with ceramic tiles It's not that conspicuous. However, as market competition becomes increasingly fierce and consumption continues to upgrade, the problem of ceramic tile after-sales service will become more and more prominent. However, at present, companies and dealers have not yet reached a consensus on whether it is necessary to solve this problem.
01
Is the after-sales service provided by the enterprise or the dealer?
The first step in solving the problem is to clarify who will take the lead and who will cooperate. Regarding the after-sales service of ceramic tiles, the biggest point of conflict between manufacturers and dealers may be who will pay for the after-sales service costs of ceramic tiles?
Manufacturers now also realize that as consumer demands continue to increase, the role of after-sales service in future market competition is also increasing at an exponential rate. Even so, for manufacturers, the cost of in-person after-sales service is affordable in a certain area, but if the scope is expanded to the entire China, the cost of after-sales service will be extremely difficult to bear. Therefore, manufacturers can only entrust dealers to solve local after-sales service problems. Of course, some manufacturers have already begun to participate in the after-sales service process, such as establishing after-sales service departments to respond to consumers' after-sales demands and allocate resources to deal with them. Of course, overall, most manufacturers can only rely on dealers for after-sales service.
From the perspective of a dealer, why is after-sales service such a problem? On the one hand, we still have to return to the cost issue. After-sales service costs will compress their own small profit margins; on the other hand, dealers also feel aggrieved: they have obviously done some after-sales services, but they are still scolded... At present, basically Dealers are actually doing all the after-sales services such as measuring homes, returning and replenishing goods once, etc. From this point of view, it is not that dealers do not provide after-sales service, but the level of service cannot meet the requirements of consumers.
The reason why after-sales service is a difficult problem is that in addition to cost factors,It also involves the dealer’s cognition and mentality. In the past twenty years, ceramic tiles have been sold without any worries, and there is no need to consider after-sales service at all. As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. It is not an easy task for dealers who are used to living a wealthy life to stoop down and become small. It also requires social "polishing". As a group that has direct contact with consumer terminals, some dealers are still stuck in the past era and have no clear understanding of the importance of after-sales service. They are not aware of the positive role of service at all, and they cannot talk about paying attention to service; and Although some dealers already know the importance of after-sales service, they are still unwilling to reduce their profits to provide services or improve service standards.
Generally speaking, most manufacturers can still only rely on dealers for after-sales service. Second-tier brands can partially participate in this link and allocate resources to solve the problem; leading brands can intervene in the whole process and integrate resources to solve the problem or directly provide it to the headquarters. Full responsibility.
As the absolute main body of after-sales service, dealers have the problem of lack of service awareness and weak awareness. In the service process, they are also unwilling to serve and control the service cost.
02
After-sales service is difficult and dealers feel aggrieved
Although dealers feel aggrieved regarding after-sales service issues, overall, the dealer's performance is unsatisfactory. Of course, some dealers believe that they are taking the blame, and some of the blame that belongs to manufacturers and third parties has been placed on their heads. The third party mentioned by these dealers is the tile pavers.
Most of today's decoration workers are over 40 years old, and they all came from apprenticeships. They have not experienced systematic skills training. Faced with the products that companies are upgrading at an increasingly faster rate, it is conceivable that they are not up to their capabilities. I know. Because of this, some problems that occur during the construction process will also be attributed by consumers to product quality problems and require returns or exchanges... Dealers are naturally unwilling to meet such requests. Then the conflicts between the two parties continue to intensify, and the dealer's after-sales service is naturally criticized. In this case, the company will reduce the cost of after-sales service through continuous education and training, and will also indicate some precautions for the product on the packaging of the ceramic tiles.
What about other than this kind of problem? Does the dealer itself have any behaviors that are criticized by consumers?
In fact, this kind of thing is not uncommon in black cat complaints. The most common one is probably the serious phenomenon of cross-selling and fake goods in terminal stores. A certain brand once encountered an example where consumers complained on Douyin about the poor quality of its background wall, but relevant personnel from the manufacturer said that it was not its own product. So, we don’t know which company this background wall comes from.We know it, but in this incident, the dealer may have to take the blame.
On the surface, manufacturers and dealers should be of the same mind, but in fact conflicts between the two parties are not uncommon. In addition, the larger the manufacturer, the smaller the voice of its dealers. Manufacturers sell goods to dealers and earn money for materials; dealers, as the contact between the manufacturer and the terminal market, earn the price difference. The fundamental interests of both parties are not at the same point, and to some extent are even contradictory.
It is not surprising that dealers, out of their own interests, choose to sell bricks from multiple brands and pass them off as good ones. It is understandable that this behavior increases the "difficulty of work" for dealers and manufacturers. As for how to solve this problem? Everything can only be left to time.
At present, with the increase in market concentration, the after-sales service of ceramic tiles will also begin to be standardized and standardized. This is not only because with the development of society, manufacturers and dealers who cannot keep up with the development of the times will be eliminated; but also because after-sales service is like a price war, and there will always be companies and dealers to do it. As long as someone starts to take after-sales service seriously and improve service quality, then latecomers will have to keep up. To be or not to be is never a matter worth pondering.
03
After-sales service requires industry cooperation
If dealers and manufacturers want to solve the difficult problem of after-sales service, whether they work alone or cooperate with each other, it is difficult to solve the problem from within the system. Since the problem cannot be solved through endogenous reform of the system, what about promoting system reform by introducing external variables? The author believes that this should be the most feasible way.
After-sales service problems are diverse and complex, making it difficult for both parties to deal with them, not to mention consumers as a third party that "makes trouble" from time to time. It is then up to new forces to deal with these problems and bridge the gap between dealers and manufacturers. Converting the conflict into a conflict between both parties and a third party will be an effective method. It is even said that the dealer group can transform into this "force" to solve after-sales problems for their former peers.
For manufacturers and dealers, the introduction of a third party can effectively ease the conflicts between the two parties, and there is a moat between the two parties; avoiding each other's wrangling over who should be responsible for after-sales problems and how much responsibility they should bear. , which can significantly reduce the cost of after-sales service and is cost-effective.
This third party can choose to recruit its own troops. The advantage is that it is safe enough.They have strong control over the business, can communicate with manufacturers and dealers on an equal footing, and have a certain say. The disadvantage is that the cost is high, and those with little financial resources can’t do it; you can also choose to build a platform model, where one party links manufacturers and dealers, One party connects consumers and attracts other forces to solve the problem by publishing tasks. Its advantage is that it is light-asset, but its disadvantage is that it needs help in the early stage of development... The former makes money by signing up with multiple companies and makes money from service fees; the latter relies on commissions from tasks to make a living. .
One family’s opinion is for reference only, welcome to discuss.
(Author: No)
