their own way and totally different characters from the consumer end of the market, which is a challenge, but that’s why it’s so interesting.


How do you approach such


challenges? I come very much from a consumer industry. You have to make sure you have dedicated, focussed people in different areas. I think it’s impossible for a sales person to cover everything, so we have to have people who can cover each segment, and have a good understanding of what the customer is saying. It’s very much about how you perceive the customer, how well you can interpret them; I think we’re good at this but we can always get better, which is why we’re working so closely with the Net Promoter Score to pick up information from the customer about what they need and what kind of issues and problems they have. We also try to work on our relationships, which I think differentiates us very much from our competitors.


If we look at this event, we have a lot of people who can make a machine that looks like ours, but of course we try to pair this with the service package, and educate people in how to choose the right machine for them, as well as back that up with care after their purchase. For this reason, I think there is really only one player in the world that can really go against us, and I think that’s the key thing – to always stay ahead of our competition.


Can you tell me more about the Nilfisk relationship with


the Net Promoter Score? We go to customers and ask questions on the basis of their buying experience, such as whether they would like to promote Nilfisk-Advance or not, what could have been better, how can this service be improved, and so on. It strengthens the dialogue with the customer, but enables us to better understand their needs and the gap which needs to be filled within the marketplace. We can get all kinds of information from very varied levels of


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customer, but ultimately we are aiming to cover 80% of our customer base. We are already seeing things we can improve, for example delivery times, lead times, and so on – it is to help the customer, but also to track our progression. We learn more, we see what the customer thinks is important and what they think is necessary.


Have there been any particular learning curves


that have resulted from this? There have been many things we have found which need improving upon, but very small, specific things, highs and lows – it can be something as simple as the fact that they are not happy with a salesperson or a machine’s function. It is a whole range, but what we have been seeing is that this range has gotten smaller and smaller from doing the research.


What personal goals do you


have for this role? I think for me this is not a turnaround case, this is a very well-run company with very competent people who all have goals. I think that there needs to be a firmer emphasis upon internal improvements and investment, but also in terms of taking the feedback from the customer to put them even more in focus – I say even more, because the customer has always been in focus, but to drive this forward at this time is something that I think we are ready for in order to grow.


And then, of course, this relates to our company expansion – we are very strong in Europe, with 65% of all our revenue concentrated there, but the long-term goal is to be equally big in Asia and the Americas. We don’t have a specific timeline for that, but I think the key thing is to make sure we have very strong legs to stand on in order to make this happen. I think that most innovation is a sequence of small steps with continuous improvements, especially in the cleaning industry.


www.nilfisk-advance.com FEATURE | 51


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