Company bio
VFD Adviseurs (advisors) is an administration and tax consultancy for small and medium-sized enterprises, freelancers and the self-employed. From Rosmalen they take care of the entire financial and fiscal process. Customers are welcome to outsource all or part of their administration. In addition, for: annual accounts, tax returns, payroll administration, financial advice, tax advice and starter’s assistance. VFD works for more than 300 customers with a team of 11 colleagues.
We spoke with Antsje Buijs-Huitema, back office employee at VFD. With her colleagues she ensures that clients are helped quickly and personally. How does she stay connected to her customers?
VFD Adviseurs receives periodic low-threshold feedback from its customers
Hi Antsje, with VFD you have chosen the SME and the self-employed as your customers. What’s the reason for that choice?
“This is the market we can serve ourselves. Larger companies are often obliged to be audited and we do not have this discipline directly in-house. We do, however, work closely with accountancy firms, so we could possibly serve these customers.”
What is the greatest challenge for you in working with and for your customers?
“Because VFD serves more than 300 customers with a relatively small team, it is a challenge for us to maintain good, fast and personal contact with our customers. In our industry, you do not have daily or weekly contact with your customers, but if there is contact, the customer expects a good and fast answer. This can be a challenge, especially at quarter-end and year-end, and one that we enjoy working on together with our customers.
"In our industry, you don't have daily or weekly contact with your customers, but if there is contact, the customer expects a good and fast answer".
How do you keep in touch with your customer between quarterly closings?
“That is indeed a challenge. Sometimes you don’t know how happy a customer really is. Because we naturally want to prevent a customer becoming dissatisfied, or even deciding to leave, we measure our customers’ satisfaction and engagement every six months.”
And you use askemo for that?
“That’s right. With askemo, we send a simple question to our contacts, which they answer within a few seconds. We find that many clients are happy to participate in such a survey, as long as it doesn’t cost them too much time. And askemo does just that. We use the results to map out what goes well in our organisation and where there is room for improvement.”
How did you do it before?
“We always kept good contact with our customers. But in practice, that often means that you miss signals because you don’t speak to all your customers regularly in day-to-day practice. Conversely, it is also true that customers do not always indicate what and how something can be improved. With askemo, they are more likely to do so because they can simply write it down in their own words.”
"We find that many customers are happy to participate in such a survey, as long as it does not cost them too much time.
Thank you. Do you have a final addition?
“Yes, I do. Askemo is an accessible and quick way to find out what our customers are satisfied with, or what they are struggling with. It really saves us a lot of time, and we can invest that time in our customers.”