The Pioneer interview with... Chris Newitt
Chris Newitt has spent much of his career pioneering in the automotive industry. He spent 15 years at Volkswagen and was a Marketing Director at Skoda before joining Jaguar Land Rover, where he was the Global Performance Director for six years.
He is now the Managing Director of Scania, a world-leading provider of trucks and other transport solutions, known for their excellent customer service and customer-centric approach. In his role, Chris is responsible for guiding the business through a time of significant change in the industry, including the increasing transition from combustion engines to electric.
Who is Scania, and what is their background, broadly?
Scania has been around for over 100 years, designing and building trucks, and also wider engine and power solutions, including the machines that operate the drawbridge at London Bridge and the generators that power the Glastonbury festival.
They started in the car industry, but the business has since evolved. Its big breakthrough into the truck industry was in the 1970s when they designed the V8 truck that was much more powerful than others on the market. These trucks were true feats of engineering. Trucks have changed a lot since then, with the ones we are now making being much more automated, meaning most people can drive them.
Our trucks play a huge role in ensuring economies, particularly in Western Europe, don’t come to a standstill. The Department for Transport can even summon us if our service execution is too low because of the impact on the delivery of fuels.
What does it take to be customer-led in the truck business?
For Scania, it’s all about showing how customers get value out of a relationship with us and vice-versa. Our customers spend thousands of pounds personalising their trucks because they are hugely passionate and want to differentiate themselves.
If you go to our website, we talk about the ‘Scania way’, which outlines the equation that describes how our job as an organisation is to add value to customers. That’s what drives our revenues and is why we exist. We have made this formula very public, so it's all over our website, unlike other manufacturers who say that's their job internally but don’t broadcast it. We do this because we believe one of the greatest risks we have is taking the loyalty of our customers for granted or believing our own hype, which will mean we stop delivering for our customers.
We believe customers will only continue to buy from us if we provide them with value. We are in a relationships-driven business – and through our relationships with our customers, we understand their business and can solve their problems quickly and efficiently. This means they won't ever need to go anywhere else.
At Scania UK, how do people think about customers and what challenges have you tackled in a customer-led way?
At Scania, we are trusted advisors to our customers, not just salespeople who sell products. When we are talking with our customers, we have to support them to ensure they are getting the right product for them. Part of our ethos and product differentiation is something we call modular construction. In other words, the varied nature of trucking means that every truck we build is bespoke as we make them to the exact needs of how our customers will use them.
To build a truck in a bespoke way ends with the truck itself and begins with truly understanding what that truck will be used for. Our customers have hugely different usages for their trucks such that what we can build for them can be anything from 18 to 150 tonnes. The list of the specifications that make each truck unique is exhaustive, which means that to get it right, we must really understand each individual customer's needs. They are making a massive investment in our products, and there are huge risks of getting it wrong, both reputationally and financially, for us and them.
What does pioneering on behalf of customers mean to you? Why do organisations find it so hard?
It’s easy to say 'listen to your customers' but if you genuinely believe it is important, as a senior leader, you will find time in your diary to get close to customers. I try to get out to our branches and customers in formal and informal settings as much as possible. For example, I do informal dinners where I will meet with a small group of customers with no purpose other than to have a conversation with them. I find that in just a few hours, I really get to understand their business and build that relationship. You also get to show your value to them in more ways than one. I've had two customers make a property deal at the table before.
Other organisations, particularly in the automotive industry, find it difficult to pioneer on behalf of customers because there is so much focus on simple business dynamics like optimising your cash that they end up ignoring their customers. That's because various pressures make it challenging to find the time and recognise the importance of listening to customers and making yourself available to them, which means you don't make changes to the business based on what they are saying. In our case, listening to customers in the way we do has allowed us to maintain all of the things that have made Scania great rather than just making short-lived internal optimisations.
Are there any examples of organisations that you particularly admire for doing something customer-led?
The first example was when I was in Disneyland in Florida with my family. We were perfectly happy waiting for our pre-booked pass to get on a particular ride when a Litter Picker asked if we wanted to go on another ride while we waited. They ushered us to the front of the line so we could experience another ride instead of just waiting. The level of empowerment for that person to create something magical for our family was incredible and the fact the rest of the staff supported it too was a great example of the power in getting it right when it comes to recruitment, training, attitude and behaviour of colleagues.
The other example is a favourite restaurant of mine in London. It’s not overly fancy, and my wife and I go once a year and have done so for the past seven years or so. But every time we go, they remember us. They have our favourite table ready, and they always give us a complimentary glass of something, even if someone new is waiting on us. I think it’s amazing to think how many people eat in that restaurant that they still remember us and take the time to personalise the experience. It means we always want to go back.