The cooperation with Xolv originated over 25 years ago through a chance encounter: “My brother Louis once attended a time management course with Xolv partner Jeroen Ottevanger, then still working at Atradius. They kept in touch, and when Jeroen started his own company, it was natural for us to join him. That cooperation has only got better since then. We are a family business and value long-term relationships. If a cooperation is good, there is no reason to say goodbye. That's our way of doing business.”
Support with certainty
“Large retailers usually pay nicely on time,” says Rien. “Still, it's reassuring that Xolv, in collaboration with Atradius, monitors our accounts receivable portfolio. And in the few cases when something goes wrong, we know that our insurer is not just there in fine weather.” Because Best Sellers works with a relatively small but strong client base, every new client is important. “With a new relationship, we always want to ‘look under the bonnet’. We don't do that ourselves, because Xolv does it better and faster. One phone call and a full report is often in my inbox half an hour later. That speed and accuracy make all the difference.”
Mental agility and family bonding
At 60, Rien is not yet thinking of quitting: “The work remains interesting and challenging and working with my brother is something special. Sometimes it chafes, it's like a marriage. My brother is the “attacker” of our team and I am the “defender”, to speak in football terms. And just like in football, for us too, with just strikers or defenders, you don't win the game, you have to do it together. Our father worked with us until 2002 and passed away last year. Looking back on that time, I would say: working with family sometimes requires some mental agility, but it also brings a lot of satisfaction.”
Partnership
“We cherish our relationships, internally and externally. Strong cooperation, mutual trust and understanding are key to success. We work with a close-knit team of great colleagues; turnover is low and that says a lot. Everything that goes well is taken for granted: after all, that's what you get paid for. The trick is to keep it going well when the going gets tough. That's what we go for at Best Sellers every day. And we also experience that same sense of partnership at Xolv.”