Chris van Es, Inside Sales & Administration, VDH Products
Chris van Es (57) has been working at VDH for over 30 years. ‘If a customer has a problem, I figure out how we can solve it.’
Figuring things out and getting things sorted
‘I’m the documentation man, I do the accounts, draw up quotes, and support the sales people. When customers call, I’m often the link between the customer and the production department, or between the customer and procurement. That to me is, after the atmosphere here with my colleagues, what I like the most about my job: figuring things out and getting things sorted for our customers.’
Dealing with people
‘When I started here in 1988, the general ledger was still a physical paper ledger. I’d graduated from secondary school and just come out of military service. During my military service, I trained short-term volunteers at the Assen barracks. After that, I worked for the provincial government for a while. And then I spotted the vacancy at VDH. As you can see, I don’t really have a specific background in finance, but I happen to be good at it. And being a people person also comes in handy here at the sales department. We are not always able to solve everything right away, but when we manage to help the customer get ahead, it takes away a lot of stress.’
Developments keep on coming
‘My day-to-day work is varied. Besides the regular tasks of doing the banking and processing payments, there are always surprises in the emails and phone calls that come in. And the developments keep on coming. As a company, we continue to develop new products and implement new technologies. In my field, the most important change of the past years was switching to the ERP suite we currently use.’
Everyone in the cafeteria
‘The culture at VDH is low-threshold: people are all very approachable. During coffee and lunch breaks, we let our calls go to voicemail. That’s when everyone gets together in the staff cafeteria. Sometimes it’s like a cabaret in there. Together we give 100% for the customer. I also meet up with some of my colleagues away from work. To have a bite and a drink in town together.’
