Peter Van Dartel

The automotive is one of the fastest changing businesses at the moment. Online became an important factor for marketing and sales, because simply said the customers are using online possibilities more and more with choosing and buying their next car. Knowing this from my experience in the Louwman Group and combining it with my motivation for a customer-centric and data-driven approach I continued my career in the Louwman Group at BV Nimag, of which the core business lies in importing Suzuki cars, motorcycles and outboard motors. My job title says it all. By creating insights with data of the different steps in the customer journey and using analytics from online marketing to sales and after-sales we can determine possible improvements in conversions. Knowing these possible improvements is knowing where to improve and grow the business, although creativity is needed to find new ways of working and implementing new strategies. The results till now already provided innovation of our retail model and considerable growth in sales and customer satisfaction.

Talking about innovation and making innovation large does not help you out in achieving new possibilities. Knowing and using those facts I was engaged in the Louwman Booster project, in which we cooperated with Innovation Booster to set up a program and training for managers of the Louwman Group. As the project lead I managed 5 Louwman Booster programs with different teams and managers each. Together with the trainers of the Louwman Academy I actively supported and coached the colleagues towards a new approach of their work, using data, creativity and new solutions. Every program was completed with a proper demo day on which the teams presented their achievements on stage in front of large delegation of the Louwman Group. “Louwman Group is bekend om haar ondernemerschap en loopt voorop in Nederland en Europa op het gebied van alle auto-gerelateerde diensten, zowel voor het bedrijfsleven als voor consumenten. Continue innovatie, digitale diensten en een flexibele aanpak waarin de klant centraal staat, maken dat mogelijk”, zegt Eric Louwman, president van Louwman Group. “Met behulp van de coaches en de slimme methodiek van Innovation Booster zorgen we ervoor dat onze mensen anders gaan denken en handelen. Niet vasthouden aan datgene dat ‘altijd heeft gewerkt’, maar openstaan voor nieuwe, creatieve ideeën, met elkaar samenwerken en je inzetten voor betere resultaten voor de hele organisatie, dat is waar het om gaat.”

In my previous role as Manager Customer Support I already helped out colleagues with questions and projects about online innovation and growth. As I grew in this role I was given the opportunity to help out and also lead the online innovation on a full-time basis. Within the different companies of the Louwman Group different insights en strategies were used, missing out the opportunities to thrive online growth by working together as a team. By coordinating website development, digital marketing, customer contact possibilities and focus on new KPI's I managed to share experiences en success throughout the Louwman Group, resulting in a stronger focus on the online business and the possibilities for further growth in online car sales.

With more than 70 car dealerships the Louwman Dealer Group was and still today is one of the largest automotive dealerholdings in The Netherlands. To raise customer satisfaction and process efficiency in online sales and after-sales contacts the Louwman Customer Support was started. As manager I introduced new possibilities of customer contact, by centralizing the incoming phone calls and emails of customers, but also by introducing new ways of contact like online chat and video call support. With the fast growing and more and more online business my team grew from 5 to 20 members, serving the customers with faster and better answers using Lean and Kaizen on a daily basis.

As Client Services Manager I was responsible for all sales and after-sales customer contact by phone, email and chat of Fietsenwinkel.nl, managing a team of up to 25 people on a daily basis. I also managed the voice of customer in the management team with creating new sales and marketing initiatives. I started this role shortly after the start of the company. Within the first years we took and held the leading position in online bike sales in the Netherlands, using Lean with a strong data-driven focus on growth and efficiency.

Due to my knowledge of the German language and culture I started working for this start-up in Amsterdam, a great chance, since I had little to none experience in online businesses, other than the digital marketing of the law firm I worked for previously. Together with a very dedicated team of developers we launched the German website Springest.de and entered a new market. Exciting times started with translating the website, finding and signing the first 100 German course providers and growing our revenue along the way using online and social media marketing. Working in a very online savvy environment shaped my knowledge of online business and marketing. Best lessons learned are still "We'll do it live!" and "Meetings kill business".

As a lawyer I mainly supported the German Desk (Corporate Law), advising German speaking clients about Dutch law.

Just before graduating from Leiden University I got the opportunity to serve the club as president. Together with six other board members we full-time led the daily operations for the 600+ members.