What Does a Customer Love Manager Actually do at Vorwerk?

„I spread love all the time”

Digitization is not only changing our products, but also jobs and requirement profiles. At Vorwerk, last year we deliberately recruited a Customer Love Manager instead of a Customer Care Manager for the Thermomix division. Even the modified job title was intended to emphasize how seriously we take customers’ changing desires for more exchange and more of a say. It also reflects how that has led to a change in the requirements of the position.

For this, we even accepted that potential applicants might skip over the ad – just as my colleague Kerstin Herget did. At first, she too was irritated by the job title Customer Love Manager. As a Vorwerk HR Business Partner, I wanted to find out why she still applied for the job, what makes it different from customer care, and what is special about her everyday working life.

react to your job title?

People are indeed frequently curious and want to know exactly what my job involves. That’s why I have gotten into the habit of saying: "I spread love all the time." (laughs) My unusual title lets me start conversations incredibly quickly – whether internally with new colleagues or at trade fairs or events. After all, most people are more familiar with the designation “customer care management”. My title serves as a bridge in a way that I would not have thought possible until now.

So what is the difference between customer care and customer love?

First of all these are simply two different terms for similar activities. At Vorwerk, however, we speak very deliberately of “love for the customer” instead of support or care. For one thing is perfectly clear: our customers – especially the Thermomix ® fans – invest an incredible amount of love in their relationship with our products. They interact with one another and some are bubbling over with enthusiasm. Even on those rare occasions when they contact us with a complaint, they generally want to continue using their product because they value it. In this regard, we really have luxury customers here at Vorwerk. Anyone who has worked in the fashion industry like I have, knows how different customers can be.

Understanding the customers is one thing. What other qualities are also important for your position?

It is important not to let anything rattle you if there occasionally are complaints. You also have to keep in mind the varying needs of our customers. Ultimately, we are marketing not just one product, but many – for example, cookbooks and accessories in addition to the Thermomix – and doing this in very different countries with different mindsets.

However, the most important thing in customer service is that you have to stand 100% behind the products that you represent and defend. I have to be able to do that with a passion.

And are you able to do that at Vorwerk?

Yes, definitely. As is also the case with many customers, the Thermomix brings out my passion for cooking over and over again. It has come to the point where I don’t even know who to feed next. My colleagues complain nearly every single day that they are gaining weight because I just won’t stop baking. (laughs)

Moreover, the quality of the products and the tradition of the company were what prompted me to look specifically for a job at Vorwerk after some 20 years in customer service and three prior professional positions. All I can say is: this is sure the company for me. I never expected to ever again get a job with these new possibilities.

What do those new possibilities look like specifically?

For me personally, working in such an international team is a brand new experience. Until now, my career was limited to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Today, as a communications interface in customer care between our various locations, I am also in touch with colleagues in France, Spain, and Italy, for example. I also travel frequently to those countries.

Kerstin, you’ve been at Vorwerk for more than a year now. What do you like the most about your job?

It is great that our team is a colorful, international mix of people. Many people still think that most of the colleagues at Vorwerk International in Switzerland are German. The reality is that I work with people from Spain, South America, Italy, and many other nations. The different mindsets change the working atmosphere a lot and are probably why we deal with one another differently – perhaps a little more diplomatically. In any case, I have learned a lot thanks to this and I think this is a very special experience.