At 15 I had my first student job selling flowers door to door, it was necessary to create relations with my customers, I listened to their demands and requested specific types of flowers at the store.
That was really the start of a new hobby…making new relations, listening to people’s needs and creating a new story together for the future.
Later I entered the timber trade, working for one of Netherlands’ biggest importers of panel products, First as an internal salesman, then as purchaser. I visited many panel producers and fell in love with the industry, this is when I started to feel that this position between factory and customer could fit me. After becoming head of sales and eventually director of the company, I started to miss being on the field.
I met the agent for ALLIN PLYWOOD, part of the ARBOR Group, who was close to retirement and the rest is history. Now working as an Agent for the ARBOR group dealing mainly with big importers and purchasing groups for almost 6 years, I can say it is really the position I hoped for.
My Mission: Work with nice people, create and maintain long term relations where both parties benefit and have a good time together!
When you ask my two daughters they will just say, daddy makes a lot of phone calls every day. But as there is only me for the whole country, every day is different. Always in contact with our customers and of course our production, chasing opportunities, seeking new options, business meeting and technical support on projects.
That it is a natural product, that you tweak in so many ways, the variety of sizes, finishes species, the different end users that makes you rethink the way to use it. It is a global market, affected by a lot of subjects like Housing, Oil&Gas, transport, environmental topics…To be honest I also like the occasional claims mainly caused by an installation error which sometimes is hard to identify the cause: I really like those puzzles.
Sometimes there is a big gap between what the Factory can deliver and the customer need; and somewhere in the middle, there is a solution.
My way to solve it is to cut the big step into smaller steps and try to “win” as much steps as possible on both side… But like in a good football game, sometimes you can have the best team on paper but you do not get the most points on the field 😉
“When my hobby starts to feel like work, I will search for another hobby”
Simple, when you have a nice hobby, you want to put time in it. For me I just have a nice hobby that I can do every day. I even get paid to do it! When you must drag yourself to work and wait for the bell to ring it is time to go home, it is time for change.
