Improving Customer Interest Is Above Everything Else.

General Electric's branch Polymerland is setting standards for bringing an old business into the Internet business.

Its conversion is mainly based on a simple and powerful reason: the Internet is an important tool to promote customers to buy goods.

- Peter Foss, President of the Dahle Polymerland, general electric branch, placed a favorite snapshot in his office.

This photo was taken at a plastic trade exhibition in 1997. He stood with President Jack Welch.

They both stooped to look at a computer screen and look at the most original version of Foss, which is now thriving.

Foss laughed when he talked about the awkwardness of everyone at that time.

"We are very curious about the Internet, but we don't know what is going on," he said.

This new thing is beyond our imagination.

There is no "frontier" anywhere on the surface of Ge Polymerland.

Its headquarters in Huntersville, North Carolina, is a house made up of rows of standard cubicles.

The 300 employees of the division belong to the typical conservative type: there is no eyebrow trimming and no black turn up T-shirt.

It is also an D, D, which sells plastic devices. These plastic devices are used to make CD boxes, toothbrushes, buffers and bedpan.

However, in a much earlier time, Polymerland understands a simpler and more powerful reason than most companies and most of the business departments inside Ge, that is, it can use the Internet to promote customer purchase.

On the Internet, customers can get more timely and personalized information about the execution of their products or orders, or personalized services.

In fact, by putting forward feedback, customers can indeed exert some influence on the whole workflow of Polymerland.

Moreover, because customers are allowed to participate more and more in the management and operation of the company, Polymerland can help its employees focus on expanding their business -- D D attracting more new customers.

The result is self-evident.

Since the establishment of Polymerland website in 1997, Internet revenue has increased from $60 thousand a week to $about 7000000 a week, now accounting for about half of the total sales of the company.

Foss expects that this website will generate more than US $1 billion 500 million in sales in 2001.

All of the above content helps to explain why Polymerland has become a fully practical guide for D D, a well deserved model in ge.

"We do this not because it is the future direction, but because it looks like a very good way to serve our customers," Foss said.

Why does Polymerland take the lead and develop so fast?

One of the main reasons is that Foss and his colleagues have concentrated their efforts on the Internet to study what the Internet can help them do for their customers, rather than what the Internet can help Polymerland do.

Customers know what they want: fast, safe and accurate.

They want to log on to search orders online as fast as they can, or faster.

They want to control who has access to some parts of the system.

They hope to have a way to track the shipment and to know the information for 24 hours.

They want to make sure that the goods they order are in line with the goods they want, and that they can arrive on time.

In the autumn of 1998, a group of IT editors began upgrading the Polymerland website to increase their response to customer feedback.

By the beginning of 1999, this website had all the powerful functions of the first class e-commerce website.

Through this website, customers can find the names, quantities and characteristics of all kinds of plastics. They can download product information or fax to themselves. They can directly place orders and track orders, and check their purchase records.

There is also a certificate on the website (a document explaining the basic characteristics of a particular plastic) for downloading.

Polymerland used to fax hundreds of similar forms every week, and now customers can get them directly through the Internet.

The Internet can also help Polymerland control costs.

General Company estimates that the cost of online pactions for company savings is 3 to 4 cents per dollar, compared with the purchase through traditional channels. D D is partly due to the fact that more than 75% of online orders do not require human involvement and arrive directly at warehouses.

Besides, the job here is not just a reduction in cost: Polymerland employees find their customers actually very willing to accept the idea of using the Internet.

Barbara Thewlis, a regional customer specialist, remembers visiting a customer for a small business.

The customer said, "my company is a one person company.

I don't think I can do that.

I really don't want to try.

"She recalls," I said, "I can tell you how to do it now.

I can take you step by step, and even tell you where to enter URL address.

"Now he has been using our website.

"Hank Harrell remember when he realized that" the Internet is developing ".

At some time last year, when upgrading to the website, his team changed the interface of the order.

In order to avoid being surprised by customers who have become regular users, the group sent them an e-mail describing the change.

A few minutes later, about 20 customers signed up to view the new interface.

Some of them immediately click the "feedback button" on the website to put in their two cents.

Harrell is amazed at the reaction of these customers.

He said, "they have been listening to our voices.

They believe everything we do, they are paying their time and attention for us.

They showed loyalty to us.

At that time, I realized that contacting customers through the Internet is more personalized than using other channels.

The greatest thing about the Internet is that it makes it easier for people to react.

At the end of last year, Foss was invited to participate in the "best performance" meeting in Fairfield, Connecticut, with Jack, Welch and other heads of General Company.

Welch has been fascinated by the Internet, and he wants to expand it into the whole General Company's behavior.

Foss was asked to give a speech on Polymerland's website.

Foss said: "when you walk into such a conference room, you are not sure what kind of meeting you are going to attend.

But it feels great.

The meeting started like this: "all right, guys.

We'll turn around in the room.

Everyone goes to the Internet to have a look. Every website is over.

To show where you have made changes, what improvements have you made recently and what you intend to do next.

"It took us five hours to read all the websites.

"The Foss praised the company for its continuous demonstration.

Welch began sending e-mails to Foss every week, asking about sales volume and other latest developments.

As Welch continues to accelerate the development of Ge e-commerce, Polymerland's internal control is also growing.

"Once Jack puts you in the best performance, your phone will keep on ringing," Hailar said.

We have travelled almost every business department of General Company to show what we have learned.

"Polymerland", but the website also needs to straighten out some knots.

When you turn the industry that needs down-to-earth to the Internet world, this happens: the long run business practices may have problems when meeting the Internet world.

For example, traditionally, General Electric's warehouse planner needs to log on to the system when they ship the goods. They usually use the last day of the year as a sign that they will add the correct information later.

In this way, when the Polymerland website is enabled, customers will see that the shipment date is usually several months late than the date they requested.

The results show that the relationship between ensuring accurate information and changing people's behavior is more closely related to the correct calibration of computer systems.

Mark Rohrwasser, head of Internet Customer Center at Polymerland, said: "if only a good website is built, any competitor can catch up with us.

But that is far from enough.

You must make a great change in your way of doing business.

The big hurdle to overcome is: how fast can you do that?

At present, the competitive advantage of Polymerland is changing along with the basic business process.

But in the future, the ability to keep moving forward depends on its ability to make great leaps in service.

Foss promises that one day, the website will not only provide plastic, but also provide everything that the plastics industry needs: machinery, equipment, logistics support, and even talent.

However, what is more important is how to maintain the process of change than to initiate specific changes.

For Foss, the key challenge is to insist that Polymerland be customer focused and keep developing rapidly.

He said: "we are really in the initial stage of implementation.

We must keep moving at a speed of 120 miles per hour. In the journey, we must constantly inject new talents and new ideas to increase fuel for this process, and make sure that we will not become too comfortable with the situation.