‘Acorel has changed our way of thinking. We no longer assume that we know how a customer thinks of us, but let our customer speak for themselves. And we do this in a structured way, allowing us to respond to customer inquiries more quickly and efficiently.’

Rutvik Patil, Commercial Manager at STET

Building a better customer relationship

Since 1973, STET has specialized in the cultivation, development, and export of various potato varieties. Together with their customers - potato processors worldwide - they develop products such as chips and fries for people to enjoy globally. With the ultimate goal of structurally improving the relationship with the customer, they turned to Acorel. Rutvik Patil, Commercial Manager at STET, says: "We were very impressed with Acorel's approach. They have the necessary tools, understand customer experience and CRM systems, and conduct thorough research before providing advice."

Awareness and understanding of the customer

Before the collaboration between STET and Acorel began, Acorel had already carried out a project at the parent company HZPC. Together with Acorel, they delved into the experience that customers have with HZPC. This was done through the use of personas and customer journeys, among other methods. This project increased HZPC's customer awareness and initiated several initiatives and studies to get to know the customer even better. STET took over from HZPC and, together with Acorel, embarked on a similar trajectory, identifying several opportunities for improvement.

Alignment across the board

It quickly became apparent that there was no standardized process for handling complaints and writing reports during customer visits. However, with a better understanding of the customer, it became clear that this has an impact on customer satisfaction. In addition to STET now exploring a suitable CRM solution, they have also addressed several improvement points, leading to quicker responses to complaints, documenting discussions during customer visits, and initiating customer segmentation.

Quicker response to complaints

One of the issues STET faced was that complaints came in through various channels: WhatsApp, email, and phone calls. "This made the process of handling complaints time-consuming and inefficient," says Patil. The first change STET implemented based on Acorel's advice was standardized complaint forms. While STET already had a complaint form in place, it is now consistently used for all customers. Patil says, "Our customers in Nigeria now provide the same information as customers in Honduras. This allows us to respond to complaints much more quickly."

Documenting customer visits

The second piece of advice involved writing reports during customer visits. This was also done in various ways. "We are now actively working to use the same format for documenting customer visits. We ask the customer a series of questions. The action points that follow are immediately sent to colleagues so they can act on them right away," explains Patil. This makes the process faster and, according to Patil, also increases satisfaction: "It makes our customers feel like they are being taken seriously. Nothing is forgotten, and everyone is clear on the current status of the customer and the shared goals."

Customer segmentation

The next step STET is taking is segmenting customer approach based on strategic priority. Patil says, "This allows us to give extra attention to our most important customers, further increasing customer satisfaction with them." Patil is already very pleased with the changes the advice has brought: "Acorel has changed our way of thinking. We no longer assume we know how customers perceive us, but ask them during customer visits. We keep track of this in structured reports, allowing us to respond to customer inquiries more quickly and efficiently."