Digitalisation and Knowledge Transfer as the Key to Successful Customer Relations

Interview with Jorit Tessmann, Managing Director of Cosphatec GmbH
Cosphatec

Mr Tessmann, Cosphatec has now been on the market for over 10 years and has been convincing with steady growth ever since. In your opinion, what makes Cosphatec special compared to its competitors?

Our greatest strength lies in our in-depth know-how of natural and sustainable strategies for the preservation of cosmetics. In addition, our medium company size offers the advantage that we differentiate ourselves from corporations through lean processes, fast service and personal contact. Cosphatec uses only biodegradable raw materials that come from predominantly sustainable and natural sources. Our products provide microbial and antioxidant stability as well as stability for emulsions and viscosity. This is a very specialised field within cosmetic product formulation. Our goal is to replace synthetic ingredients of concern with natural raw materials and thus, together with our customers, make the industry more sustainable. 

You say that your products are biodegradable and sustainable. The topic of sustainability, with all its different areas, plays an important role in the strategies as well as in the operational business of the cosmetics industry. How can Cosphatec support its customers in the area of sustainability? 

First of all, using our natural and sustainable products is already a step in the right direction. This alone can make products more sustainable. In addition, we are continuously working to make our own processes and supply chains more sustainable. To this end, we employ staff who deal with these issues. For example, a Corporate Social Responsibility Manager. We also advise our customers within our field of expertise on how, for example, a preservation system of a cosmetic formulation can be optimised in a natural way and thus also become more sustainable and environmentally compatible. We see ourselves here not only as a supplier, but rather as a long-term partner who actively supports with its expertise.

You just said it and you also advertise with the fact that you are a partner for your customers. At the same time, you count customer service as one of your strengths, with one focus of your customer service being the transfer of information through webinars. From 07 of September, you will offer interested parties from around the world the opportunity to learn more about stabilising cosmetic products with natural alternatives. 

Tell us more about the content of these webinars!

Customer service is definitely one of our strengths. Due to our corporate structure and flexibility, we can offer our customers individual solutions. In particular, the antimicrobial protection of a formulation must always be adjusted very precisely and, above all, individually. In order to be able to advise our customers in the best possible way, a comprehensive service and, above all, the direct proximity to our research department are important. Here we offer our customers extensive tests, such as preservation load tests, to find the best possible protection for your individual formulation. 

Even before the Covid 19 pandemic, we increasingly pushed the digitalisation of our services and processes. In addition to expanding our social media channels, where we provide our followers with news from our company several times a week, it was only logical to also offer webinars. Through them, our customers, but also all other interested parties, can learn more about an alternative preservation of cosmetic products. Especially with natural alternatives to the classic preservatives, formulators have to pay more attention and knowledge in this field is not as widespread. Here we want to provide education, share our knowledge and support formulators to use more natural raw materials in their products. In doing so, we go into the composition and origin of the raw materials, but also become very practical by revealing how, for example, pitfalls can be avoided and give tips on incorporation.

Our webinars are always reasonably short, around 30 minutes, and defined thematically concisely. Introducing webinars give an overview of alternative conservation, which advanced users might skip. Although I would not recommend this, as our experts always have news to report. The other webinars always provide in-depth information on a specific topic, such as emulsions, water- and surfactant-based formulations, sensitive skin, blends and so on. This way, every user can learn exactly about the topic that is relevant to him or her. After each webinar, our experts are always available to answer questions. And here we take as much time as is needed. The Q&A session can sometimes even last longer than the webinar itself because participants ask specific questions about ongoing projects. We are always very pleased when many questions come in and the participants want to go further into topics. 

You have an international client base. How do you make it possible to attend the webinars in the different time zones? 
Our webinars always take place on #WebinarWednesday. On this day, we hold the same webinar four times. From early morning to late evening Central European time zone. Three times in English and once in German. This way we try to make it possible for all our clients and interested parties worldwide to participate.

Are there documents for the participants? And is it possible to watch the webinars repeatedly? 

Yes and yes. After each webinar, all participants receive an email. There they can download the presentation and also watch a recording of the webinar. We want to share knowledge and create awareness here. Therefore, it is very important to us that the participants internalise what they have heard and, in the best case, implement it naturally. Of course, they are welcome to do this with us.

At which upcoming event can we see Cosphatec live? 

We are very happy that there are finally on-site events again since this year. The In-Cosmetics Global in Paris in April was a great start. And next year in Barcelona we will of course be on site. In addition, we will be at In-Cosmetics Asia and Latin America this year. With our distributors, we will also exhibit at various trade fairs in Poland, Indonesia, China and South America. And of course we will have a stand at the Sepawa Congress. We can't wait to finally meet our customers, partners and friends in person again.