Hans Akkermans Accountmanager

What do you do at VDL and how did you end up there?

I am an account manager at VDL Special Vehicles, which means that I try to lower the threshold for partners and relations to integrate new technologies into heavy and medium-heavy transport vehicles. VDL Special Vehicles is a partner in contract manufacturing for the assembly and conversion of vehicles, from police cars to rollers and trucks.

After my Technical Business Administration degree at the Tilburg University of Applied Sciences, I held various positions in different companies to see what I really liked. In 2015, I ended up as a technical project manager at VDL Bus and Coach. I was the internal linchpin between sales and the technical staff. After that, I grew into a commercial project manager. In this role, I was the internal link between the factories and the international VDL companies. I did this for 7 years. The past two years, I have worked as an account manager at VDL Special Vehicles. Now, as an account manager, I manage existing and new accounts and try to expand the portfolio of current customers.

What exactly does your job entail and what do you do in a working week?

The sales team consists of various account managers, a sales engineer, a communications advisor, a business development manager and a sales manager. Together we are working on acquisition and the successful positioning of VDL Special Vehicles in the market. My working week consists of various (internal) meetings, physically and via teams, with and at customers. I travel a lot because I often visit trade fairs, go to international customers and do a lot of field research.

In my position it is important that you have certain qualities: you must be able to listen well, think along with the customer, you must be able to think in a problem-solving and analytical way and be able to ask good questions.

What kind of projects do you work on and what do you like about them?

The nice thing about my job is that I am always working with new customers, new contacts and new techniques. The dynamics of the new is very interesting. The most fun and interesting project is the project to implement 5 hydrogen trucks and the sale thereof. This in collaboration with a global player in the automotive industry. The great thing is that within this function you have a lot of contact with new leads, new people. You have your own responsibility to run your own “stall”. You get a lot of freedom in the way you do this.

When I started at VDL Special Vehicles it was a VDL organisation that had just started, and where the sales department was new within this organisation. It is great fun to set up procedures and processes together with a new team to make the new organisation a success.

Why is VDL a great company to work for?

VDL is a family business with an intrinsic motivation of the family to keep employment here instead of moving everything to low-wage countries. This is very special, and very nice to work for a company that is not only profit-driven. People are central here. You can take your own responsibility here and that is also appreciated. You can get new opportunities in new functions within the company. You get the opportunity to follow education and training from VDL. For example, I just completed the Sales training by Kenneth Smit.