A walking Geberit catalogue
Technical customer service from Belgium
Geert Maswiens is one of the voices on the Geberit technical hotline in Belgium. He acquired his expertise on the side – while processing deliveries in logistics.
Geert Maswiens works in his first job. He is 54 and has been doing it for over 30 years. In fact, he was already working for Geberit in Belgium before the sales company existed. “I'm the longest-serving employee here,“ he says.
It all started in logistics. Geert Maswiens had to receive goods from Switzerland and ensure that they were correctly loaded onto lorries to be delivered to customers.
He experienced how Geberit grew in Belgium. And he grew too. “More and more customers came up to me and asked me technical questions about the products.“ At first, he passed them on to colleagues. But then his ambition got the better of him. He began researching and was soon able to answer the questions himself.
Take heart, get a job
This is how he developed into a Geberit all-round expert – on the side, so to speak. When a position on the technical hotline became vacant in the team, he took heart. “I thought I had the necessary knowledge.“ His future line manager agreed and gave him the job – that was in 2008.
Since then, Geert Maswiens has been one of the voices at the other end of the telephone line when customers have a question or a problem with products. Managing Director José Wyns says: “His expertise is huge, he makes a difference as a telephone advisor and sets us apart from the competition.“
Customers appreciate that. So much so that they sometimes call for an item number that they could look up on the Internet. Geert Maswiens has it in his head. “Some colleagues call me a walking catalogue,“ he says with a grin.