Building Community and Customer Success
Customer support is an integral part of a successful company across all industries, and it’s especially true in the ag tech world. Answering calls at all hours of the workday, fielding questions, understanding farmer’s unique operations, diagnosing problems, and offering solutions are all part of the daily responsibilities. It requires a skilled listener, communicator, and problem solver. For our team, that person is Vlad Lapsin.
Vlad joined Sabanto in the spring of 2022, initially taking on a variety of jobs and making sure our shop and equipment remained in order. As he familiarized himself with our technology and user interface, vehicle Mission Control (vMC®), his responsibilities gradually expanded. He became the first Verification & Validation Engineer at Sabanto, tasked with testing the safety and usability of new software and hardware features. Today, he wears two hats: leading customer support while continuing his role as Lead Verification and Validation Engineer.
Vlad services a tractor at our shop in Nevada, IA.
In this dual capacity, Vlad engages with customers daily, acting as a liaison between them and different areas within the company. He gathers feedback from our users and communicates it to our product team and software engineers, enabling them to refine and enhance our product. “Everything is evolving right now. We’re learning that our customers need more features, and we’re working to accommodate that,” Vlad explains.
Vlad has become the go-to person for many customers and dealers looking for quick solutions or product feature explanations. Despite never having met most of them in person, he develops personal relationships with each of them that reflects his commitment to customer support.
I take service to a personal level. I want our users to feel comfortable asking questions. My priority is always to be responsive and put them first,” he shares.
He enjoys hearing customer’s feedback and understanding their farming operations. With his strong knowledge and understanding of our technology, Vlad provides tailored recommendations to enhance the vMC experience for each user. For instance, he recently noticed a customer had stopped using their tractors during what’s typically part of their busy season. Upon reaching out, he learned they were planting and hadn’t realized our technology could support more than mowing. Vlad informed them that our technology is highly customizable and helped them find another use for our product on their farm.
Today, you’d never guess that Vlad had no prior experience in agriculture before joining Sabanto. He has become a trusted company leader, training five colleagues to use vMC in their respective roles. He attributes much of his agricultural insight to the farmers he interacts with and his supportive coworkers, truly embodying the spirit of teamwork. Vlad enjoys serving others and helping customers maximize their use of our product, welcoming challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
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