Liang Haitao
Liang Haitao is Regional Sales Manager in Shanghai and has worked for the Vaillant Group since 2014. He firmly believes that always being among the pioneers is important – including in digitalisation.
Liang Haitao has worked for the Vaillant Group at its Shanghai location since 5 years. Practically every competitor in the field of heating and air conditioning has a base of operations in the mega-metropolis – the Vaillant Group is the market leader in this growing market segment and was also the first major brand in the Shanghai growth region – others followed. This is one of the reasons why Liang chose to work for the Vaillant Group: “We’re the pioneer and – from design to service – we have a great brand. I wanted to be a part of that. I thought that it would inspire me, and that has been borne out.” Today, Liang considers it part of his job to inspire his team himself: “Whether it’s management, co-workers or customers – we’re all part of the big picture.”
We have to be faster
“Naturally, you can’t just take it easy and rely on Vaillant’s good reputation and our successes,” says Liang. He feels that he and his team are facing a lot of challenges right now. For example, in communication with customers: “Our target groups are getting younger, they want direct information. They use new channels, like TikTok, as a social media app. That’s why the Vaillant Group now also uses TikTok’s e-commerce function – we want to stand out from our competitors. We have long had an online store presence for consumers on Chinese marketplaces such as Tmall, the marketplace of the e-commerce giant Alibaba.”
We can meet our challenges if we learn and keep on developing our capabilities. I have big hopes for digitalisation: We can make better decisions faster on the basis of data, facts and analysis.
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When it comes to heating and air conditioning as well, customers in Shanghai want smart functions and intelligent devices that can connect to the Internet. Speed is also an issue in securing our position on the market. Now we have to develop new ideas, meet our customers in new ways and learn. For example, we are taking the familiar teleshopping sales format and transfer it to smartphones – including promotions and competitions. Customers who are interested can watch this format live using a QR code and then if they want pre-order devices directly. Our multipliers are customers from the Vaillant showrooms, who share the code with their friends– that’s the modern way of promoting sales in the 21st century.
Shaping change
Climate change, digitalisation, Covid 19 – our world is facing big changes. Liang is convinced that we can meet the challenges if we keep on developing our capabilities. He has big hopes for digitalisation: “We can make better decisions faster on the basis of data, facts and analysis. Sustainability is a very important issue to me: We have to look after our planet, our climate, our families and the people around us. We can only achieve the balance that our environment needs if we take responsibility. Naturally, this is also reflected in the products, processes and methods of the Vaillant Group. Working together, we have to brainstorm, discuss things, look for improvements and think outside the box – that’s the only way that we can achieve these important goals. I have an eight-year-old daughter of my own. And I want her to have opportunities and a future.”
