Digital sales of analogue growing media

Trends and opportunities during the crisis

“We do not belong in a home office,” says Linda Rakers. A Technical Consultant at Klasmann-Deilmann, she is currently working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic. “We belong beside our customers at their nurseries.” The impatience felt by the sales and advisory teams is tangible.

The teams have learned that providing advice over the phone can also be successful. “I find it easier if the callers can see each other,” Linda Rakers reports. There are now lots of different options for video conferences. “The advantage is that it makes you closer to the person on the other end of the line,” she says. “You can look at each other. Alternatively, you can point your smartphone camera at the plants or inside the greenhouse.”

Our sales teams and technical consultants are currently sharing the same experience as other people all over the world: modern IT can help to enable close cooperation, even at a distance. “It still feels strange to use digital sales methods for analogue growing media,” admits Linda Rakers. “For many growers, this also feels unusual, but there is currently a noticeable increase in acceptance.”

That’s why Klasmann-Deilmann has launched a webshop in which each customer can keep his or her own account. All it takes is a few clicks to order the required growing medium. The customer’s personal order history makes it even easier. Linda Rakers is convinced that solutions such as the webshop would have become the norm sooner or later. “But now we can put them in place even faster.”

 

Please ask your Klasmann-Deilmann contact about access to the webshop.