Building Trust, One Client at a Time (With a Bit of Golf on the Side)
Hey, I’m Jelte. I’m 24, currently working in sales at Pionect. I grew up in Hardinxveld-Giessendam (a small town, but officially the longest village in the Netherlands, and we’re proud of that). When I was 16, I started my own company. At first it was mostly photography and video work, but I quickly started leaning into online marketing. I used it as a way to practice what I was learning in school. First I studied photography and video, then I moved into marketing. I’m technically still finishing that last one.
Over time, I started working with bigger clients and doing more complex campaigns. I was learning a lot, but after a while, things shifted.
From “No thanks” to “Let’s go”
A couple of years ago, Egbert (my uncle) offered me a job at Pionect. I said no. I still wanted to build my own thing and work for myself. But after one of my biggest clients went sideways, I took a step back and realized: maybe it was time for a change.
Then a while ago, a good friend said to me, “How are you not working for your uncle yet?” And he was right. So Egbert and I were working late one Monday evening here at the office, and I said to him: “Okay, let’s do it.”
Now I’ve been here since September, and it’s honestly been great. It feels a bit like working with one of your best friends, which makes the hard work more fun. I also really like the way Pionect does software because our approach is different from any other company I’ve seen before, and I believe in it.
First sales job (but kind of not)
This is technically my first job in sales, but it doesn’t feel like a huge leap from marketing. I’ve always been in commercial work: helping companies sell stuff, building campaigns, that kind of thing. And I think with sales, you either get energy from it or you don’t. For me it just clicks.
What I like most is the mix of my job from meeting people, understanding what they need, and figuring out how we can help them. And also, working on new parts of the business, like branding, outsourcing developers, or even expanding to the U.S., I get excited about that kind of stuff.
Learning on the job
I think I have a pretty amazing job. I go to events, play golf for work, and meet interesting people. I really can't complain. At the same time, it’s not easy. Sales in the custom software industry takes a lot of patience. Our software ends up being deeply integrated into a client’s business. So they don’t say yes overnight. Sometimes it takes months or years until you make a sale in this industry.
Most of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned by doing. Making mistakes is part of it. I’d rather mess something up now and learn from it than do it later when the stakes are even higher. I also follow courses (like a recent one on communication) and read a lot of books by people like Simon Sinek, mostly about relationships and solving problems.
Because that’s really what we do in sales here: figure out the problem behind the problem and show how software can help solve it. That’s hard to explain sometimes, especially when the stakes are high and the clients are cautious.
You need a pretty thick skin to do my job. A lot of people put up a front, and you need to see through it to find out what really matters. Being precise is also key. Tiny mistakes in paperwork or contracts can have big consequences. But more than anything, you need to believe in what you’re selling. And I really believe in what we do at Pionect. That makes it easier to be passionate and easier to connect with people.
Not there yet, but getting close
Long-term, I want to become part of the company as an employee as well as a stakeholder. I don’t want to be CEO (developers are too complicated and HR would bore me to death), but a commercial role, something like CCO sounds nice. Sales, marketing, strategy. That’s my lane.
I’m also really curious about what’s ahead: our U.S. office, the outsourcing model we’re developing, the new branding strategy we’re building. And I’m very interested in combining sales and marketing more through LinkedIn and other platforms. Let’s see where that takes us.
Outside of work
Outside of work, I coach volleyball. I also golf, play padel, run, hit the gym, and hang out with friends. Oh, and I love wine. Red with meat, white with fish, rosé in the sun. I even have an app where I fill in all the wines I’ve ever tried. A digital cellar, basically.
Other than that, I’m finishing my thesis (slowly). It’s about reverse recruitment and helping companies find people by starting with the candidate’s preferences instead of a job post. Pretty smart, I think. So yeah, that’s me. I work a lot, I play sports, and I’m building something cool here at Pionect.
