Selling is not enough - there has to be customer service too!
Lena Lindqvist, who is the Customer Service Manager in Västerås, Sweden, is convinced that customers should always have someone available to answer their questions. “The Sales organizations in our four regions are responsible for obtaining the initial sales agreement and then we take care of the rest.”
The customers who are served by Lena Lindqvist and her team have one thing in common. They are buying copper or brass strip, often both, from Luvata manufacturing units in Finspång, Sweden, or Zutphen in the Netherlands. The strip will most likely be used within the automotive and telecom industries.
“Our sales offices world wide are selling rolled products irrespective of where they are produced. However, we have learned that the customer .jpg)
support must be closely linked to our manufacturing units in order to answer certain questions quickly. This means that there are also customer support centres in Buffalo, U.S. and in Pori, Finland,” explains Lennart Andersson, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Rolled Products Emerging Markets. “In order for our customers to receive the best customer service, they must have direct access to accurate and timely information. Many times our sales staff is travelling and therefore sometimes can not be reached, but our customer support teams are always available.”
When Newsletter met with Lena Lindqvist she indicated that the members of her team are responsible for different markets and that there is always a back up available when someone is not at the office. “Most of the inquiries we receive today are made via e-mail and we receive a wide range of questions. Although a substantial part of the communication is in English, the team has a good knowledge of many different languages including German, Spanish, French, Finnish and of course Swedish.”
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The Customer Support Team in Västerås. L-R: Lena Boqvist, Anna Holmlund, Else-Maj Sten, Lena Lindqvist, Kerstin Ström, Sirpa Kinnari.
“Many of the questions we receive have to do with the product specifications or availability”, continues Lena. “Customers wonder if we can make a certain product or if we can supply a special dimension. Sometimes their questions concern when a product can be delivered or if it has been shipped. This means that we must have continuous contact with people at the manufacturing units in Finspång and Zutphen in order to provide accurate answers as quickly as possible. We also have direct contact with our technical experts when it comes to answering any unusual questions.”
“From our emerging markets a lot of questions have to do with documents concerning payment and shipping and since the metal bookings are made here a lot of questions are related to them as well. People sometimes ask us for an advice about the right time to book the metal, and although we can not give advice like that, we can provide information concerning the price fluctuations during the past period.”
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The Customer Support Team in Västerås has contact with hundreds of customers and as Lena Lindqvist summarizes: “Our Mission is important. As I said by way of introduction: Selling is not enough. Customer service is equally important!”