Customer segmentation at PLA
Going the extra mile makes all the difference!

Laura Kovach:
As part of this year's Commercial Excellence Initiative, the Polymer Additives sales organization took another close look at our customers and reclassified them. Our aim was to identify those with strong growth potential more quickly. The newly formed “squads”—cross-functional teams of sales, marketing, and technical staff — are tasked with unlocking this potential.

In addition to myself as Strategic Account Manager, our team also includes Global Product Manager Michael Bearer and Emily Mayes, R&D Lab Manager.

Our dibenzoate coalescing agent K-FLEX@ 500 offers many advantages in coating formulations. Our goal was to expand our business with a leading manufacturer of coatings and paints in three new plants. In June, we succeeded in doing so, securing orders for the three target production sites in the US.

Reliable delivery
How did we achieve this?

By earning an “A+” rating for our current business: our deliveries were on time, our quality was 100 percent, and we provided strong technical support for current business and projects. Our supply chain model, in which products are stocked at terminals for different regions of the country, was a good fit for the selected companies and their plants. That was a big advantage for us.

After receiving the first order, we did everything we could to deliver as promised. Demand planner Timo Breitkopf and customer service representative Anita Lorch helped us with this. Both played a key role. Thanks to them, we were able to ensure smooth implementation.

Close communication
Weekly conference calls between myself, Anita, and the customer's supply chain team kept us informed about ongoing operational requirements. This allowed us to incorporate them into our planning and avoid disruptions. After all, any product change involves high risks, especially during the transition phase, when problems can have serious consequences for production. This can jeopardize the reputation of individual employees of the customer. Through our intensive communication and joint review and analysis of all difficulties in advance, we were able to gain the trust of our company contact and management.

Involving all sides
Crucial to the success of the collaboration was the fact that we were in constant communication with both operational and commercial stakeholders. We offered them practical solutions and often identified problems in advance. Beyond this immediate success, we have received impetus for further joint development projects and are in direct contact with the customer's technical teams. For example, our customer's category manager asks me for direct project updates for these new projects – this confirms his trust in us and that our approach is working.