Customer Service and Quality Equipment = Success
Iowa seems like a long way from Myanmar, but I felt right at home during a recent three day visit for sales training to the Insta-Pro Intl headquarters in Urbandale (a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, USA). Despite having a population of just over 200 000 people, Des Moines is one of the top cities in America to do business and is a centralized location for agricultural research and product development making it an ideal location for the Insta-Pro Intl headquarters. The city has very little traffic, the air is fresh and the infrastructure is second to none; making it an enjoyable place for me to travel to and visit. Urbandale is a centralized location allowing efficient domestic or international shipping of machinery and parts.
During my visit, I met the Insta-Pro Intl team that works out of the Urbandale office. I met Karl Arnold, V.P. Sales & Marketing first. Despite leaving that afternoon for South America, Karl took the time to patiently explain the marketing and sales strategy. The thing that stood out from that session was the Three-Pillars of Success: 1) Quality Equipment; 2) Exceptional Support and 3) Optimum product output. It’s easy to say that, but when you see their equipment, meet their staff and see their processes, you know they mean it.
Next I met Tori, Marketing Coordinator, and Sophie her intern. Tori takes the companies brand seriously and works hard to show that it matters. Tori cares about her brand because she cares about the people it represents, especially the customer and end users. This is close to my heart because I see Insta-Pro Intl’s presence in Myanmar as a catalyst for social change to help improve livlihoods, especially for women and to create a better safer food value chain.
During my three days, I also learned why genuine Insta-Pro Intl parts and service are key selling feature to prospective clients. Our parts outlast the competition and some of our competitors’ customers end up using our parts because they’re the best. I was especially interested to meet Dr. Dave Albin, Applied Nutrition Technologist & Dr. Nabil Said, V.P. Nutrition & Extrusion Technologies, two nutritionist that are dedicated to helping customers produce high quality nutritional products.
I also enjoyed getting to know the CEO, Kevin Kacere. Kevin spent the evening showing me a tour of Des Moines and sharing his personal history over a burger and cherry beer. During this time I saw his huge heart for the company, their customers and employees.
My time at Insta-Pro Intl was short but efficient. The staff are some of the nicest people I know and their machinery reflects the quality of people they are. I felt equipped to return to Myanmar with the knowledge that I have 100’s of years of combined experience backing me up. With a wealth of resources to draw on for any customer situation or question, I can explain to customers why Insta-Pro Intl equipment has earned a reputation for engineering excellence, superior end-product nutritional quality and comprehensive service before and after the sale.
