At the height of the pandemic our interactions may have been defined by social distancing, video calls, masks and webinars, but ultimately the crisis brought us closer to our customers than ever before.
At Knauf Insulation, for our ‘As Safe As Home’ safety guidance we focused on distancing, air ventilation, surface cleanliness and personal hygiene (DASH). We supported the Confederation of Installers and Small Contractors in France by making this guidance available to all 350,000 members.
As online replaced face-to-face meetings, we used digital resources to support customers. For example, in Austria, Switzerland and Lithuania, among other countries, we held webinars for drywall builders, blowing wool customers and for architects. Using social channels, Knauf Insulation France reminded customers of ECOSE Technology’s outstanding indoor air quality credentials and our Asia Pacific colleagues launched a digital campaign to boost DIY sales.
At the start of the pandemic, masks were in short supply for many customers, we helped out where we could. In Lithuania, for example, we delivered hundreds of masks to members of our Captain K installers’ programme while our Systems Division at Škofja Loka in Slovenia sent out packs of masks to members of our Installers Premium Club.
The crisis closed stores in many countries, so it was vital that customers could still access our products online. This often meant revitalising our channels or creating new ones. In Russia and CIS, for example, we launched a new online store that attracted 14,000 visitors in the first two weeks. It was an incredible response and included one loyal customer who ordered 190 packs of premium TeploKNAUF NORD to insulate his entire house. In Slovakia we launched a new e commerce channel to reach single-family homeowners offering customers some of our most important applications including our Rock Mineral Wool external wall insulation (ETICS) and Glass Mineral Wool pitched roof, while at our Systems Division in Slovenia we carried out a survey to support customer challenges and identify new ways that we could help.
With the onset of COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders, our Knauf Academy in the US was able to pivot directions practically overnight. The team that typically meets with customers in a setting that allows for hands-on applications was able to create dozens of fun videos, webinars, and presentations to engage our customers and sales team with enriching content. Like so many of the stories from our Knauf family around the globe, this swift action and innovation was a testament to what an effective team we have at Knauf Insulation.
Keeping customers supplied as borders closed inspired
simple, but effective, innovations. For instance, to avoid truck drivers having to face a 14-day quarantine when they crossed the border from Greece to Turkey, our East European region developed a system of changing drivers at the border.
Our expert insight has always been just a call away. Our colleagues in Italy, for example, have being offering a wide range of digital learning webinars for our customers — particularly architects, engineers and designers — that focused on topics such as sustainability, green buildings, fire safety, acoustics and hygrothermal insulation. 2020 may have changed our habits, but customer-centricity remained at the heart of everything we do.
When social distancing was unheard of and masks only for Halloween, more than 4,000 free breakfast sandwiches were given out to builders and branch staff across the UK as we celebrated the 10th anniversary of ECOSE Technology®. The ‘Feel Good Factor’ roadshow visited 36 locations of builders’ merchants and distributors handing out sandwiches, hot drinks and, of course, samples of products with ECOSE Technology.
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Read our Annual Review 2020!