Ever wondered who is behind many of the great projects we are announcing on our socials? Get ready to meet our sales team!
Nikita Versnoyen, Noé Van Bellinghen and Tom Cornelissen are the ones who are face to face with our costumers and do their utter best to care for their needs (as does the whole Zensor team) 😊
Through a short interview we want to give you a brief impression on their everyday life!
- What motivates you in your position as a salesperson?
Nikita
Building new relationships, conquering new challenges and making an impact on people in my industry is part of my everyday motivation. The industry is a sector with many challenges. Knowing that we are doing our bit to provide a real solution is very satisfying. The diversity of the customers also ensures that our job remains exciting. Today you are going to visit a food company and tomorrow? Who knows ...
Noé
It’s part of my role to discuss with our clients in an aim to understand what their difficulties are, the challenges they face and where they want to be in the (near) future. That’s where you realize that none of our clients are alike : they all have their own realities and this provides a lot of variety in my day to day job. Different clients, different conversations. That is actually great cause I could not stand a repetitive and monotonous job.
In addition, one of the greatest motivation factor for me is to make my clients happy. This sounds a bit cheesy I know :-) but for me there is nothing more important than this. Understanding the challenges that our clients are facing is only the beginning of the journey. The real deal is making sure Zensor does implement the appropriate solution, the one that solves our customer’s challenges.
Last but certainly not least : most of our customers operate heavy machines and I really enjoy staring at those big toys. This probably satisfies my inner child :-)
Tom
To make the professional life of our customers easier thanks to our solution. To provide them with a tool, that makes their daily work easier. Also, I do enjoy sales metrics and seeing revenue growth based on my hard work in sales. There is no better thing to see as a sales person then seeing clients satisfied with finished product.
- How would your colleagues describe you?
Nikita
Enthusiasm. That’s a word that describes me the best. Full of energy (sometimes a bit too much 😛) but always enthusiastic/exited for new projects or challenges that need a solution. Also, some of them consider me very cheery and optimistic. I would think they would say this because I’ve demonstrated how I see setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow.
Noé
I’ve heard “Fantastically annoying” many times.
This comes from the fact that I am rather details oriented. Not saying that I can’t satisfy myself from something else than perfection, but I do think that details matter. For my colleagues, it can be felt as a blessing as it can help making sure things are well taken care of, but it is also very annoying when one wants something to be done very quickly. I am therefore fantastic while being annoying 😀
However, overall, I like to think it is a compliment 😀
Tom
My coworkers would say I’m consistent in pursuing and reaching my goals. Also, I’ve been told that I am both a reliable leader and an excellent team player. Very social, enthusiastic and driven forward kind of a person. Solution provider. There is always a creative solution to a problem, no matter what it is, and I genuinely love searching for it and working with a team to find it.
- An interesting place you visited whilst on the road?
Nikita
As I said, the industry is a challenging sector. Which also makes it very interesting. You learn something every day. Just to be able to see how things you use or eat every day are made, how cool is that?
Noé
Well, a few months ago I visited Magdeburg in Germany. Magdeburg is the home town of Otto von Guericke, a famous scientist who strongly contributed to the understanding of vacuum physics. Magdeburg is part of the Saxony-Anhalt State which host a few glass manufacturing plants. The fun fact is that the process used to apply a coating layer on a glass is most often vacuum-based. It made me wonder whether the fact that the Saxony-Anhalt State is known for its important glass production was a coincidence or whether it has anything to do with Otto having lived in that State?
Tom
Every time I visit a production plant, i’m always impressed to see how things are made or processed.
- Random fact you learnt through your journey as a sales person?
Nikita
Teamwork. It may sound cliche, but as a sales team it is not always easy to be a real team. Fortunately, we do have that at Zensor. I can always count on Tom and Noé's advice and support!
Noé
As a salesperson it is very tempting to describe Zensor’s activities using buzzwords such as ‘Predictive Maintenance’, ‘Process Analystics’ , ‘Maintenance 4.0’ or other terms related to the world of ‘Industry 4.0’.
While Zensor’s activities indeed fall into the ‘Industry 4.0’ type of activities, here is something I learnt: it is preferable not to use the ‘Industry 4.0’ related buzzwords too much.
For example, while one person might consider “Predictive Maintenance” as being the fact of using a mobile, offline vibration sensor to perform an offline, punctual inspection of the vibrations of a bearing to understand its present state of health, one other person might understand it as being the fact of following up continuously the vibrations of that same bearing by using online, connected vibration sensors.
While Zensor is definitely closer to the second option because we indeed propose solutions based on the continuous follow-up and analysis of ‘machine-related data’ , none of these descriptions do cover the full spectrum and capabilities of what we do. Indeed : we don’t always make use of vibration sensors and we also use other sensor types such as strain gauges, inclinometers, distance sensors and more to collect those ‘machine-related data’. One some of our projects, we will supply these sensors. On some others, we will use only the data that is already available locally, such as process and operational data stored in a PLC, a SCADA or an historian system. Whether or not we will use ‘additional sensors’ on top of the data available locally will depend on what our customer wants to achieve.
One may now understand why it is so important to me to explain Zensor’s activities using simple terms. Terms that do not cover several different realities and that explain what Zensor’s activities are in a clear manner.
Tom
That it is important to regularly check with your customer if we understand each other well. I mean, beyond a short summary, but really summarize in your own words what I understood from the conversation and check it with the customer. Because sometimes the same words can mean different things in a different context.
- Dad joke?
Nikita
The optimist says: The glass is half full.
The pessimist says: The glass is half empty.
The engineer says: The glass is twice as big as it needs to be!
Noé
What do you call a factory that makes okay products? A satisfactory.
Tom
Boss: Did you get any orders today?
Salesman: Yes, I got two!
Boss: Congratulations! What were they?
Salesman: “Get out!” and “Stay out!”