50th session · 50 people interview | Zhou Shidong: Taking customer satisfaction as the core, continue to be the "nail house" of Qilu Auto Show
2024-08-13
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Editor’s Note:
Zhou Shidong, chairman of Shandong Shitong Automobile Group, who calls himself a "nail house" at the Qilu Auto Show, has led Shandong Shitong Automobile Group to conquer the Shandong automobile market amid the turbulent automobile industry by virtue of his dedication to customers and continuous efforts to solve customer pain points. He has won the brand sales championship eight times and repeatedly achieved high sales at the Qilu Auto Show. He is also committed to ensuring that both urban and rural areas in Qilu can enjoy "one-stop services" such as auto repair, auto beauty, boutique modification, auto insurance, auto loan, and auto registration, which are "Saituo's concern and customer's comfort."
Zhou Shidong, Chairman of Shandong Shitong Automobile Group
Qilu Auto Show "Nail House"
Won the Geely Auto Sales Champion 8 times
In 1999, Zhou Shidong led the Shandong Shitong Automobile Club, which had just been established, to participate in the first Qilu Auto Show. "I remember that the scene was very lively, with a lot of people. Various dealers actively participated, which left us with a very good impression."
"At that time, the weather was very good and it was very lively. There had never been an auto show in Jinan before, and Qilu Evening News was the first to create this format in Jinan." Zhou Shidong recalled, "Because of the good impression from the first time, everyone was very active and signed up enthusiastically for subsequent auto shows."
Zhou Shidong has never missed any of the subsequent Qilu Auto Shows, and the Geely Auto brand booth represented by Shandong Shitong Auto Group has become a famous "nail house" at the Qilu Auto Show, occupying the "VIP" booth.
In 2014, Geely Auto Supermarket under Shandong Shitong Auto Group achieved annual sales of 10,877 units, becoming the first dealer in Geely Auto's sales history to exceed 10,000 units in annual sales.
"Our group has been the sales champion of Geely Auto for eight years. This achievement is inseparable from the good exhibition location we choose every time we participate in the auto show." Zhou Shidong said, "The Qilu Auto Show is a big auto show for selling cars. The sales volume of the brand at the auto show proves this. Especially in the early years of the brand, our sales volume at the Qilu Auto Show was counted nationwide."
The most memorable experience for Zhou Shidong was that in a previous auto show, the booth selection process was slow because of the need to report to the manufacturer. The "VIP" booth that had been confirmed for many previous sessions was first selected by a peer. After learning that the booth was selected, Zhou Shidong and Geely Auto tried every possible way, but failed to successfully obtain this booth. This also made Zhou Shidong choose the booth first at every subsequent Qilu Auto Show, and he decided on the "VIP" booth. "It has never changed," Zhou Shidong said, and he will continue to be a "nail household" in the future.
"The Qilu Auto Show is very important to us," Zhou Shidong said. "The Jinan Auto Show is very important to Geely because it brings sales and brand premium to Geely."
"At that time, Geely launched a three-box car called 'Youliou', which means 'better than Xiali and Sail'," Zhou Shidong said. "Qilu Evening News, the organizer of the Qilu Auto Show, wrote a series of reports on us and published many articles, such as 'Why 'Youliou'? and 'Why is it still 'Youliou'? It caused a nationwide response. The Qilu Evening News's reports plus the Qilu Auto Show had a huge impact on the brand."
"20 years ago, Geely was committed to 'making safe cars'." Zhou Shidong introduced that after the auto show was held at the Jinan International Convention and Exhibition Center in the High-tech Zone, Geely Automobile conducted a special explosion-proof tire test at the auto show. After the tire was punctured, Geely would not roll over and could continue to move, which had a great influence at the time.
Solve the pain points of car owners
Customer satisfaction is the core
Talking about entering the automotive industry, Zhou Shidong said that at the beginning, when he was driving, he felt that drivers had pain points and confusion. "At that time, driving was still relatively complicated. There were annual inspections, road maintenance fees, and various violations. Many car owners were not clear about it."
"How to solve the pain points of these drivers? I wanted to set up a club to help car owners solve their pain points." Zhou Shidong said, "Car owners just need to drive, and the rest will be left to the World Automobile Club. This was my point of view at the time."
However, with the establishment of China's first 4S store and the subsequent proliferation of 4S stores, many customers' pain points were resolved, and Zhou Shidong and the club gradually transformed from providing services to drivers to becoming car sellers.
"Everyone later became a 4S store, so what is the difference? What can we do as a dealer? What we can do is to provide services and provide good services to customers." Zhou Shidong said, "When customers repair their cars at Shitong, they must get it repaired right the first time, so that they will not have problems with the repairs coming here."
It is not easy to repair a car in one go. For this reason, Shandong Shitong Automobile Group has set up a special VIP service team for each customer. Before each car leaves the factory, the technical director of each auto repair station is responsible for the final inspection. The car will only leave the factory after passing the acceptance inspection.
Zhou Shidong said that for more than 20 years, Shitong has always delivered cars with certificates of conformity, and has never made customers wait. Cars are delivered with certificates of conformity, "so that customers can buy cars at any time, have cars at any time, and pick up cars at any time."
Zhou Shidong introduced that as a service provider, their positioning is to meet the service needs of customers and save customers' time, including picking up cars for customers, delivering cars to customers, providing customers with rides and drivers, and providing customers with replacement car services.
"No matter how the situation changes, everything is centered on customer satisfaction, solving customers' worries about using cars and building our own reputation." Zhou Shidong said, "In principle, as long as the customer calls, the maintenance personnel will be on the scene within half an hour in the city."
"We often say that we should treat customers as God, but I tell my employees that we should always treat customers as our own family and friends. God is too far away, invisible and intangible, but relatives and friends are real people around us, and we should treat customers as well as we treat our family and friends." Zhou Shidong introduced that it is necessary to let both urban and rural areas of Shandong Province enjoy the "one-stop service" of car repair, car beauty, boutique modification, car insurance, car loan, car registration, etc. that "is used by the world and is comfortable for customers."
suggestionOnline Digital Auto Show
Walking hand in hand all the way, the 50th Qilu Auto Show will open on September 5. Shandong Shitong Automobile Group has also grown into a large-scale comprehensive joint-stock enterprise group with multi-functional automobile service industry as its leading industry and diversified development. The group owns brands such as Geely, Lynk & Co, Subaru, Maserati, Geely Galaxy, Geometry New Energy, Chery ICAR, etc., and has equity cooperation with GAC Toyota, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Nissan, and Zeekr New Energy, with a total of 11 authorized operating brands and 35 4S stores and outlets.
"At that time, we were in the Provincial Sports Center. Later, we ran out of booths and had to temporarily expand outward. The popularity was very high." Zhou Shidong said, "The development of Jinan Auto Market is inseparable from the painstaking planning of Qilu Evening News, the organizer of the auto show, over the years. I can say that Qilu Evening News has driven the development of Jinan Auto Show and auto market, and I think it has also driven the development of the entire Shandong auto market. As a dealer, I am very grateful for the contribution of Qilu Evening News."
Regarding the future development of the Qilu Auto Show, Zhou Shidong suggested that in addition to offline auto shows, before each auto show, online digital media should be used to disseminate auto show information, and even an online digital auto show can be established.
"Qilu Evening News holds offline auto shows twice a year for 50 years. We can also hold online auto shows 365 days a year. This is our direction." Zhou Shidong suggested, "Use various current technologies, such as AI technology, to hold an online auto show 365 days a year."
"Online, comprehensive information about car models can be displayed. Offline, customers can view cars at various locations throughout Jinan. We use map positioning to mark the locations online," Zhou Shidong suggested.
(Reporters Liu Qingyi, Zhang Xue and Zhu Honglei from Dazhong News and Qilu One Point)
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