It's about people!

Amanda Knol - Commercial director at Select Windows

When I visit a website, the first thing I always click on is "About Us. Just to see who the business owner is. To find out what the company stands for, what kind of history there is, and if there are nice pictures of the employees on the website. What is it like again? You can only make a first impression once, right?

In an increasingly digital world, we sometimes seem to forget about people. I am certainly not against advanced online configurators and I also really understand the efficiency that digitalization can bring about. We are in the middle of this with a completely new set of automated machines and new software.  

But... we will also agree that we should not forget 'The Human'. After all, everyone is always talking about 'building a personal network' and 'the favor factor' but that becomes quite difficult if the credo becomes: digitization, digitization and more digitization. And, what is the value of 'personal advice' if it is difficult to physically talk to a person and you cannot be reached by phone or only interact with a chatbot, which moreover does not understand your questions. Don't we all fundamentally work with and for people? 

While personal contact takes more time, this does not mean that it also costs more money. In fact, it can yield so much, for example, a better conversation where you as a prospective supplier can ask questions that that prospective customer never considered. And also a great opportunity for upselling. My credo is therefore: make visible who you are and tell with whom you do it all together!

For example, we make corporate videos for our partners. Of course we show our products, but we also show our most important capital: the people! For example, our employees who do the work in the factory and assembly. Incidentally, I understand that many companies are not eager to 'show' their people. After all, in a tight labor market, recruiters jump on them like hyenas and before you know it, they are snatched away from you. But then again ... when that happens, you still know - as a company, as an entrepreneur - that you yourself are obviously not doing something right. Or at least that you're not offering enough (and I'm certainly not just talking about money!) to retain your employees.

In this guest column in Profile (thanks to the editors!) I argue that all of us in the window frame industry should invest more, more focused and better in People. Nice of course to profile yourself with that newly acquired machine park where you score economic returns, but look at it differently: your people are the crucial factor for the favor factor towards your company. And that is worth a lot. Moreover, it is an impulse for the quality of your products and it will be easier to attract new employees, even in a tight labor market.

It's not very complicated: put people first!