Month: August 2025

In the Cockpit

Marco has a technical background but entered the field through account management and sales training. Today, he guides organizations in the Netherlands and beyond with methods such as Clients for Life, Value Based Partnerships, and Fresh Eyes Reviews. His starting point: customer expectations define value. That’s what you need to gain grip on.

Belgium – Netherlands: Two Airspaces

We quickly noticed the cultural differences. In Belgium, sales management often remains informal, sometimes even amateurish in its approach. In the Netherlands, the maturity is clearly higher: more structure, more professionalism.

Still, both markets face the same issue: how do you ensure sales and account management are not just an individual trick, but an organizational capability (Workman et al., 2003).

Methodologies That Provide a Handhold

Clients for Life: Originally developed in the U.S. for large enterprises with complex stakeholder structures. Workshops in which both teams make expectations explicit and set priorities.

Value Based Partnerships: A derivative for SMEs and less complex customer relationships. Here a one-on-one conversation suffices, but the principle remains: value starts with explicitly stated expectations.

Both models align with academic research emphasizing that customer expectations are dynamic and must be managed proactively to retain loyalty (Homburg et al., 2010).

Fresh Eyes Reviews – Looking Through the Customer’s Lens

Marco elaborated on the Fresh Eyes Reviews: qualitative customer interviews at senior level, often with strategically important clients. They go further than NPS scores or standard satisfaction surveys. Here, the customer decides what matters.

The insights are often confronting: sometimes it turns out decision-makers hardly have contact with their supplier, or that expectations were never explicitly discussed. The result: concrete improvement actions and a sharper picture of what is truly valuable in the collaboration.

Christensen’s “Jobs to be Done” theory resonates strongly here: customers “hire” a supplier to make progress in their own context (Christensen et al., 2016). Only by explicitly understanding those jobs can a supplier sustainably add value.

AI as Co-Pilot

Innovation was also on the table. Marco is currently developing CCO Insights, an AI-driven tool that collects feedback on won and lost proposals through short chat conversations.

The data is translated into dashboards with patterns and recommendations. This ties in with my own experience: AI accelerates the analysis of conversations and reports. It makes commercial learning not only faster but also more objective.

Research shows that AI in account management mainly adds value in analysis and decision-making tasks, as long as human interpretation and relationships remain central (Davenport et al., 2020).

Conclusion – Setting Course with Tenacity

Tenacity lives up to its name: persistently working on customer relationships, not with loose tips & tricks, but through processes that make expectations measurable and discussable. From the cockpit, I see the same focus I apply at Add Business: strengthening human relationships by systematically working on trust, value, and control.

And at the same time, I keep learning. Because alongside my role at Add Business, as co-founder of Companyonwise and the NBB HUB, I see the value of combining methodologies and tools. Marco and I may start from different angles, but we land at the same destination: helping organizations grow sustainably—with grip on what truly matters.

References

Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice. Harper Business.

Davenport, T. H., Guha, A., Grewal, D., & Bressgott, T. (2020). How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 24–42.

Homburg, C., Müller, M., & Klarmann, M. (2010). When should the customer really be king? On the optimum level of salesperson customer orientation in sales encounters. Journal of Marketing, 74(2), 55–74.

Workman, J. P., Homburg, C., & Jensen, O. (2003). Intraorganizational determinants of key account management effectiveness. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(1), 3–21.

In the cockpit

In this conversation, I sat next to Wouter, an entrepreneur who built a company with nineteen employees and more than a hundred clients in just four and a half years. His mission: to unburden sales departments with campaigns that look surprisingly simple, but are highly effective.

The Leap of Faith

Wouter started in the middle of the COVID period. While many companies saw their sales grind to a halt, he built an alternative. Not call centers or anonymous lead factories, but personal, hyper-targeted emails sent in the name of the account manager.

The idea arose almost by coincidence but turned out to be gold: 40% response rates, up to 70% open rates, and above all – warm contacts that the account manager could personally follow up on.

Research confirms this: personalized outreach significantly outperforms generic campaigns because relevance and timing are crucial factors in breaking through commercial noise (Bhatia & Yetton, 2020).

The Flywheel of Growth

His approach works best with traditional companies, where sales often still run “on gut feeling” and with little structure.

That is where Wouter and his team make the difference: manually built lists, carefully chosen words, and always a human tone. No generic messages, but a first contact that inspires trust.

Trust is the key here. Studies show that the first minutes of a customer relationship disproportionately affect the course of collaboration (Cialdini, 2016). That makes such a first email not a detail, but a flywheel moment.

Two Worlds, One Cockpit

What stays with me from our conversation is how his story aligns with what I do at Add Business. Where my focus is on improving the actual client conversation – the moment where trust is made or broken – Wouter ensures that there are more conversations in the first place. Two sides of the same cockpit: he turns on the radar, I help with the landing.

Lessons from the Sky

• Wouter shared how he learned that “wanting to be liked” can sometimes stand in the way of growth.
• Making choices, daring to ask for prices, while staying true to the belief that you cannot outsource the first contact – that is what sets him apart.

Interestingly, this aligns with research on assertive selling: salespeople who set clear boundaries experience more sustainable customer relationships than those who focus mainly on being liked (Schwepker & Good, 2021).

Conclusion – Charting a Course with Complementary Strength

In the cockpit of commercial growth, it is not the technology or the channel that makes the difference, but the way people connect.
Wouter shows that cold acquisition can become warm again – if you approach it with humanity and intelligence.

References

Bhatia, A., & Yetton, P. (2020). Personalization in B2B sales outreach: Effects on engagement and response rates. Journal of Business Research, 116, 375–386.
Cialdini, R. (2016). Pre-suasion: A revolutionary way to influence and persuade. Simon & Schuster.
Schwepker, C. H., & Good, D. J. (2021). Improving sales performance through ethical assertiveness. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 36(13), 76–88. 

In the cockpit

That’s what I discussed with Ines Feytons, cofounder and CEO of Nascent. After six years as a legal consultant at Deloitte, she chose entrepreneurship. Her mission: helping founders find the right co-pilot so that teams can fly further than the first thermal lift.

The leap from the runway

“It was now or never,” says Ines. In April, together with her cofounders, she launched Nascent, a matchmaking platform that helps founders find a cofounder—or, conversely, step into an existing team. She saw the problem up close: team fit is underestimated—and that is precisely where Nascent wants to make the difference.

The platform: balancing supply and demand

Two sides, one goal: better matches.

Demand side: start-ups actively looking for a cofounder.
Supply side: often experienced professionals eager to embark on entrepreneurship, without their own idea, ready to step in.

The first users often come from accelerator programs, where the importance of a strong cofounder becomes immediately visible. On the other side: professionals who want to apply their experience in a new adventure. Active seekers, not casual browsers.

Navigating a complex airspace

Ines experiences the Belgian ecosystem as fragmented: there are many valuable initiatives, but players often work within their own programs and communities. Referrals between initiatives occur less spontaneously than in the Netherlands, where collaboration emerges more easily. On top of that, the geographic reality plays a role: Flanders and Wallonia each have their own networks and funding structures. This makes the landscape rich but sometimes less transparent for those navigating through it.

Internationally, she sees opportunities, especially in Scandinavia, where the human side of entrepreneurship takes center stage. Partners remain crucial: without a ground crew, there’s no safe landing.

Flying beyond the first customers

The biggest challenge is awareness: many founders realize too late that their greatest risk lies in the collaboration itself.
That’s why Nascent relies on partners who help carry the story and integrate the platform into their communities.

• Focus for the coming months (as Ines sees it):
• Setting up and testing international partnerships.
• Further refining the target audience and sharpening positioning.
• Developing a recurrent check-in for teams so collaboration becomes measurable and discussable.

Lessons from turbulence

“We should have probed willingness-to-pay more quickly. Enthusiasm didn’t always turn into a paying user,” Ines reflects.
That is entrepreneurship in unexplored airspace: iterating, adjusting, and staying on course. Impact over volume remains the guiding principle.

Conclusion – choosing course with the right crew

Nascent is more than ‘Tinder for cofounders’: it makes the often underestimated factor of human fit tangible and discussable. From the cockpit I hear in Ines the same pattern I see in many growth companies: technology and market are necessary, but without the right crew you won’t get past the first turbulence.

What stays with me from the conversation with Ines: clear choices, sober measurement, and smart use of partners—that’s how you climb safely.

That’s how our collaboration with Rethink, a digital agency from Tallinn, began. Their founder, Lars-Erik Hion, captures it perfectly:

“Complexity happens naturally. Simplicity is something you have to fight for every day.”

What started as a spontaneous conversation grew into a journey where Rethink, through our DNA Discovery approach, sharpened its unique identity — and became our very first client outside the Benelux.

Who is Rethink?

Founded six years ago in Estonia, Rethink has become one of the leading service design agencies in the Baltic region. Their expertise? Guiding organisations through the design phase of better digital services — long before the first line of code is written.

“We try to shine in the preparation phase of a software development project. Anything with a digital touchpoint — that’s what we do on a daily basis.”

What truly sets them apart is not just what they do, but how they do it: human-focused, crystal-clear, and with a near-obsessive focus on simplicity.

“We try to make technology as human as possible.”

Simplicity as DNA — and as daily discipline

Rethink’s DNA statement impact through simplicity might sound light, but it’s anything but superficial. In a world where digital complexity keeps growing, simplicity is not an aesthetic preference — it’s a conscious, daily choice.

“It’s a constant reminder of what we need to be.”

During the DNA Discovery sessions, we uncovered what was already there — but had never been named. Not as a slogan, but as an anchor for how they work, communicate, and grow.

The click in Helsinki

I’ll admit it: I arrived at the Nordic Business Forum with sweaty palms. It was our first time there with Companyonwise, and I couldn’t help wondering: Do we even belong here?

Then, during one of the speed-date sessions, I found myself across from Lars-Erik. That one conversation changed everything. No sales pitch. No bravado. Just a shared sense of curiosity, clarity, and trust. Two entrepreneurs with a love for simplicity, for the people behind the organisation, and for clarity that goes deeper than any tagline.

“Everything is about human connection,” Lars said later. “We met the Companyonwise team and immediately felt something. You brought experience and empathy — and that’s rare.”

For me, it was the turning point. Yes, we belonged there. Not to prove ourselves — but to truly connect.

From boardroom to shared story

The power of the process lay in the dynamic. Hierarchies dissolved. Titles disappeared. Everyone spoke as a person, not a position.

“It put management and the rest of the team on the same level. We got rid of the usual roles — founder, new joiners, owner — and simply listened to each other.”

It gave the process oxygen, created openness, and built shared ownership. And it helped Rethink realise that impact through simplicity wasn’t external advice — it was an internal truth.

DNA before strategy

For Rethink, DNA is not a strategic document. It’s the foundation everything else rests on.

“The DNA should come even before strategy, mission, or vision. When we hire, a DNA match is more important than alignment with our mission.”

DNA became their touchstone for decisions, dialogue, recruitment, and collaboration. Because simplicity only becomes powerful when you name it — and protect it.

Exporting Baltic simplicity

Estonia is a digital frontrunner. What’s still a future goal elsewhere is already reality there. But for an agency like Rethink, the local market has its limits.

“Estonia has been punching above its weight. But for a company our size, the local market becomes small quickly.”

That’s why they’re deliberately looking beyond their borders. Their mission: to export Baltic simplicity. Not as a visual style, but as a way of thinking. And their DNA became the anchor for that ambition.

What stuck?

The sessions with Companyonwise weren’t about branding or positioning — they were about reconnecting with who they had always been.

“It helped us rethink ourselves a little — and that was valuable.”

No glossy language. Just an open process that proved once again: simplicity doesn’t happen by accident. But once you name it together, it lives on — in every detail.

From Helsinki to the Baltics

What began with one conversation in Helsinki became our first DNA Discovery project outside the Benelux. Rethink became our pioneer in the Baltics. And it confirmed what I felt in that first meeting: simplicity works. Connection works. And even when the work is serious, it should still be fun.