If there is a lot of knowledge about horticulture and MPS standards anywhere, it is with the employees of the MPS Service & Support team. Angèle Mooiman, Marianne Gijsbers and Inge Schalke work in the front line and are committed to helping customers on a daily basis. Thanks to their experience in horticulture, they can help customers with their questions about the MPS standards that come in by telephone and by email. What drives them?
Mooiman has been employed by MPS for the longest time: 23 years. In her youth she picked tomatoes and disbudded chrysanthemums, but that was a while ago. She feels at home at MPS and dealing with customers is second nature to her. “I can remember a lot, that helps a lot in this work. I solve the problems that customers encounter. Customers are often surprised at how quickly a ‘problem’ is solved.”
Accessible and personal
According to Gijsbers, a Service & Support team is accessible and personal. “I think it is important that customers can contact us quickly and easily for all their questions.” Gijsbers has been working at MPS for over two years and has completed a horticultural education, after which she held various positions in horticulture.
She often goes through the MPS-ABC qualification overview together with the customer in order to find out why a customer suddenly has a peak in their usage, for example. “Clients are clearly happy and grateful when they understand how their qualification overview works.” These overviews give customers the opportunity to compare their usage of crop protection agents, fertilisers and energy with previous periods. This leads to awareness about usage and further sustainability of the production process.
Years of experience
Schalke also enjoys talking to customers by phone. Since the beginning of this year, all MPS-ABC customers have been working with a new record-keeping environment so that they also directly meet market requirements with MPS-ABC. Helping them with this is a challenge for Schalke. “I then watch with them via TeamViewer, so that I can see exactly what a customer encounters. My motto is ‘two see more than one’. Ultimately, I hope that I will make growers aware of the use of resources and thus make their business more sustainable.” Schalke has only been working at MPS since January 2021, but already has a lot of experience: she worked for a plant exporter for three years and for Royal FloraHolland for twelve years. Her father was a gladioli grower and 25 years ago he was one of the founders of MPS, sharing his knowledge.
The human contact is most important to all three employees. Schalke: “Together with the customer, I look at what fits best in the situation. In a personal conversation you can also nuance things and feel how someone is involved.” Mooiman agrees. “I’ve known some of my clients for years and they make me laugh a lot. That makes work fun for me.”