By Matt DeLaere, Marketing
When I started at GroupeSTAHL™, a couple of things stood out to me. One was how knowledgeable employees were about the company and its divisions. The other was how much the customer service representatives knew about the products and services available.
In the past, I’ve worked at companies where employees of one division knew nothing about other divisions. At one such organization, someone in the service department would have no idea what software products were available; software engineers had no idea what hardware was being sold, and so on. And this was a company with only a couple hundred employees. People on one end of the building often knew nothing of what was going on at the other end of the building. And customer service? Quite often they had no experience with the products they were supporting; more often they gave customers the wrong information about how to resolve their issues. As you might imagine, receiving any kind of help was a frustrating experience not only for customers, but for employees as well.
Recent “mini trade shows” accentuated the differences between Stahls’ and companies like the one mentioned above. “What are mini trade shows?” you may ask. I asked the same when I signed up for one. Essentially a smaller version of a trade show (hence the “mini”), booths are set up for employees to visit, each representing different divisions of GroupeSTAHL. At each division’s booth, employees are treated to a presentation of new products, services, and a general overview of what that division does.
This format allows employees from each division to learn about what the other divisions do, meet folks from that division, and see (and feel) their products. Someone who deals with heat transfer materials every day for Stahls’ ID™ might not fully understand what a screen printed transfer is, or why Transfer Express® offers them. Seeing these transfers first-hand gives employees valuable knowledge of the company as a whole, and often helps them understand their role in the “big picture.”
This knowledge not only benefits the employee, it helps the customer as well. An understanding of the company and its goods and services assists employees in providing exceptional customer service at all levels. From heat transfer letters and numbers to heat presses themselves, GroupeSTAHL employees are expected to know company offerings and what makes them the best products available.
“Knowledge is power” is a popular adage. By providing them with the knowledge needed to excel, GroupeSTAHL gives its employees the power to provide customer service that outshines the competition.