This article is sponsored by Vitalis Extraction, manufacturer of some of the world’s most sophisticated supercritical CO2 extraction equipment.
Extracting oils, distillates, and other cannabis concentrates is not just a quickly growing industry throughout North America—it’s also a team sport.
Modern cannabis extraction facilities employ dozens of workers responsible for operating and maintaining extraction equipment, and that’s only the first step in the process. You’ll also find chemists who refine, test, and analyze the resulting cannabis oil, salespeople who help get product onto store shelves and into consumers’ hands, and too many more roles to name.
Partners in Cannabis Extraction
To keep a company at the top of its game in the increasingly competitive cannabis concentrates market, all of these individuals have to be working in sync. But the need for closely integrated teamwork doesn’t stop at the front door. Coordination with the partners that build and supply a company’s extraction equipment is a must as well.
Nurturing close connections with the many partners an extraction company needs to cultivate is a key to success in this rapidly evolving industry. After all, the hard work of skilled cannabis concentrate makers can go up in a puff of smoke in the face of an unwelcome surprise from a partner farm or a sudden adjustment from an equipment manufacturer.
From the shop floor up, every Vitalis team member knows the importance of customer service. (Courtesy of Vitalis)
Customer Service in Every Role
This kind of cross-functional, big-picture teamwork is a founding principle at Vitalis Extraction, a leading supplier of cannabis extraction equipment powered by carbon dioxide, or CO2. For everyone on the Vitalis team, no matter what their title, customer service is priority number one.
“Our manufacturing team takes a lot of pride in the equipment they’re crafting, and in being able to help all of our customers get the most out of it,” says Matt Melchart, production manager for Vitalis Extraction.
For Melchart’s mechanically minded staff, that customer service experience can take a lot of different shapes. Sometimes it means providing timely technical assistance to iron out a hiccup before it becomes a more serious problem.
But it also covers those times that Vitalis techs turn a routine maintenance appointment into an opportunity to share tips on optimizing performance. On other days, or for other clients, it could just mean making time to share insights about the state of the industry over a cup of coffee.
Of course, it’s not just conversations with outside partners that are important. The Vitalis Extraction team also works to make sure people from different parts of their own company are working closely together and understand one another’s jobs. This emphasis on internal skill-sharing ensures that everyone on the team can speak with confidence about the CO2 extraction equipment Vitalis provides. And if they run into a question they can’t answer, they know just who to call.
“No matter what a person’s job is here at Vitalis, we want them to be able to interact with our customers and share their expertise,” says Vitalis marketing manager Patrick Beckerton. “The people who design, build, maintain and sell our machines are experts in how they operate, and we want to make sure that information is not siloed and going to waste, but circulating among our customers where it can be put to use.”
Vitalis works to make sure all employees understand their CO2 extraction equipment. (Courtesy of Vitalis)
Getting Everyone in The Game
To ensure information is circulating effectively, Vitalis makes a point of getting their team members out of their offices and shop floors and into the field, where they can work hand-in-hand with the people using Vitalis equipment in their extractions every day.
Whether they’re making service visits, tagging along on sales calls, or helping to show off the company’s equipment at industry events, the people who know Vitalis’ nuts and bolts better than anyone else are on-hand to field client questions.
“We had people from all corners of the company, from sales, service, the production line with us last year at MJBizCon and other trade shows,” says Beckerton. “We think these shows are great opportunities for them to see the industry in a wider scope and to help people understand the investment they’re making that much better. It’s also a great experience for our customers at these events. Lots of them don’t want to talk another salesperson. Speaking to the people who are manufacturing and servicing this equipment every day, though? They find a lot of value in that.”
