"The day is not everywhere, and youth comes by itself. Moss flowers are as small as rice, and they also learn to bloom peonies. ”
Baizhu Liren soundlink
The year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Soundlink. At the beginning of 2000, China's hearing aid industry was still a zero-based era, just because I believed that this industry would eventually usher in spring, so Baizhu Liren resolutely embarked on a long journey.
Those pioneers who lead the industry may not necessarily enjoy the glory in the spotlight, but in the process of history, the long-term strivers will surely become the bright pearls in the long river, shining brightly.
Xu Wei, the founder of Soundlink, based on his experience in Starkey, one of the six leading companies in the hearing aid industry more than 20 years ago, is very optimistic about the future of the hearing aid industry and even the entire hearing industry in the Chinese market, "The entire industrial chain around the extension of hearing aids has actually been quite perfect in the world, and in China in the early 2000s, there was really nothing", Xu Dong said in an interview, at the end of the 90s, the world's six leading hearing aid manufacturers entered the Chinese marketIn the next few years, only one or two domestic hearing aid factories have initially landed in Xiamen, so it can be said that the domestic market is almost a blank.
Regarding positioning, Xu Dong thought for a long time, and once thought about making a new hearing aid brand, or opening an offline chain store, but in the end these ideas were overturned, "Although the current hearing aid industry is in the initial stage, but after the formation of a complete industrial chain in the future, in addition to the brands and products that are blooming, there must be a need for supporters and service parties, so let us Baizhu Liren do this supporting business", a neutral service provider of the third party, so 20 years ago, Baizhu Liren had already made up this determination.
Opportunities will always be given to those who are prepared, Xu Dong clearly remembers that one day in 2002, the marketing person in charge of Siemens China found him with a ** ear and asked him if he could make this ear, "I know that this is an opportunity, at that time the external conditions were extremely scarce, and even the manufacturer could not do well, but I wanted to give it a try", so, Xu Dong and his father, in a small attic of 5 square meters at home, worked hard for 2 months, consulted many materials at home and abroad, and experienced hundreds of failures, Finally made this ** ear. But when Xu Dong took the ears he had worked so hard to make to Siemens, he learned that the order had already ended.
If Siemens needs it, it means that there must be other customers who need it! "The products that have been made with great difficulty, Xu Dong firmly believes that he will be able to find buyers. He personally designed and printed product advertising pages, rode a bicycle to the post office, and sent more than 800 mail ...... to stores across the countryFinally on a Saturday morning, he received an inquiry from a customer in Luoyang, Henan Province, and Xu Dong knew that at this moment, Baizhu Liren knocked on the door of China's hearing market.
In 2004, the predecessor of Baizhu Liren - Shenglian Bosom Friend Company was formally established, and the supporting business of the hearing aid industry began to be carried out in the form of corporatization, "as the earliest supporting service provider in the hearing aid industry in China, after the launch of the first ear, we began to try to make some of our own small products, such as domestic impression paste, hearing aid cleaning brush, balloon blowing, electronic dryer, anti-loss lanyard, etc.", I thought that I could show my skills to the huge Chinese market in front of us, but in 2005, Baizhu Liren suffered Waterloo - the fiasco of the first attempt at localization.
Because of the success of the development of the first ear, we naively believe that many products we can make, it took a whole year, invested a lot of financial, manpower, energy, made a few products, just when we are full of expectations for the finished product to the market, the reality has given us a blow, 90% of customers are extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the product, serious and even quality accidents, strongly require returns". In the face of this situation, Xu Dong decided to recall all products and assume all the responsibility for the failure of product development.
Challenges and risks coexist, too early localization to test the water, almost made Baizhu Liren on the verge of bankruptcy, Xu Dong learned from the pain, gave up the idea of localization, "some things, even if they are correct, when the time conditions are not met, it will even bring disaster."
Since the product technology is still too backward, then hone the marketing ability! Introduce the world's high-quality products into China and serve the Chinese market! However, in 2005-2006, the foreign trade environment was far less than now, and it was not easy to establish a global chain. "Chinese companies were not valued overseas at that time, a first-class qualification, a talk is several years", again and again across thousands of miles of negotiations, different time zones, different languages, finally, overseas partners were moved by the perseverance and determination of Chinese enterprises, a German company is willing to grant Baizhu Liren the first qualification in the Chinese market, at the same time, the Chinese market has also ushered in a new beginning of vigorous development of the hearing aid industry. After experiencing the most painful darkness, Baizhu Liren once again saw the dawn of moving forward.
Along the footsteps of the development of the global hearing industry, Baizhu Liren continues to introduce one after another world's cutting-edge products to the Chinese market, such as PowerOne batteries, Dreve otology chemical raw materials and equipment, diagnostic hearing equipment, otoscopes and ......In 2007, it acquired the Swiss Jrenum business in China, and established the first independent brand of customized hearing protectors in China - Dr. Yier, officially entering the field of noise protection.
We have learned a lot from the international market, and also summed up a lot of experience in the Chinese market, the Chinese market is in need of cost-effective solutions", after the gradual introduction of the global ** chain, Baizhu Liren has developed thousands of domestic store customers, in the continuous and stable service, explored more product technology suitable for the Chinese market, and saw more potential demand possibilities.
In 2010, Baizhu Liren decided to try localization for the second time, and what is more challenging is that this time we chose the world's most influential hearing aid industry exhibition - EUHA European Audiology Annual Conference.
At that time, there was no exhibition in the hearing aid industry in China, very few Chinese companies went to the international exhibition, we were also the first time, the language was not understood, and even the visa was almost not done, but fortunately, we still took our products out of the country", although it is one of the few Chinese companies, but the first exhibition did not have any response, "to achieve the first exhibition is actually very difficult, the result is somewhat unsatisfactory", but since then, Baizhu Liren has insisted on participating in the exhibition every year, until 3 years later, Finally won the recognition of the first international major customer.
In 2012, Baizhu Liren introduced the first 3D laboratory in China and established strategic cooperation with foreign 3D subdivision industry giants; Today, SoundLink has entered more than 100 countries and regions around the world, becoming the enterprise with the largest number of brands and products in China's overseas hearing aid industry, and has more than 200 independent intellectual property rights and trademarks, more than 3,000 product SKUs, and more than 15,000 professional hearing institutions.
Every thing done by Baizhu Liren can influence, or even be able to write the history of China's hearing industry, I think this is extremely proud", Baizhu Liren's 20 years are the history of China's hearing industry that all teams and partners, step by step, and step out loud.
From 2020 to 2023, Soundlink has experienced the transformation of management digitalization and the establishment of the partnership system, and is moving towards a higher goal, so as to achieve leapfrog development of the enterprise.
As Xu Dong, the founder of Soundlink, said, he will never forget the happy smiles of many hearing-impaired people after regaining their hearing, "When everything we do can directly or indirectly help the hearing-impaired community to hear the world again, that is our most sacred and valuable existence." ”
Founded in 2004, SoundLink is a leading hearing aid brand in China and a provider of overall solutions and services for the entire hearing aid industry chain.
SoundLink has been leading the domestic hearing aid market for 18 years, integrating six solutions of "product service, process service, terminal service, education and training service, user service, and OTO integration service" to realize the whole production process of the hearing aid industry and the whole process operation of the market.
With more than 100 patents, 3000+ SKUs, and China's first third-party custom earmold 3D laboratory, SoundLink has become a strategic partner of many well-known hearing aid brands at home and abroad, serving 10,000 professional hearing institutions around the world, and its business has penetrated nearly 100 countries and regions around the world.
In 2022, SoundLink creatively proposed and explored the OTO model of the hearing aid industry, committed to building a global integrated marketing and service ecosystem, and creating a new chapter in the domestic hearing aid industry.