One year ago, Viktor Schneider joined VELUX Commercial as manager for the German order management team of 32 people. They work in five different locations in Germany, but meet across locations in Teams-meetings, and Viktor has been visiting the five locations to meet his people in real life and at eye-level.
According to Viktor, the working atmosphere in the order management team and in VELUX Commercial in general is open and people-oriented, despite the hard work: “This is a culture, I like. Here we don’t just see figures, we also see the people, and we meet at eye-level rather than top-down. You feel like a family. It's a very open culture, and despite the hard work, people are kind to help each other.” Viktor is focused on delegating and empowering his people. He tells them to talk to each other, and look for best practices across locations, before they decide. One of his key principles is to keep his promise and build trust.
I am a straightforward person, and I would like my employees to see me as someone they can talk to: As an open manager with an open door. If you don’t keep your promises, people will lose trust.
From bicycles to JET to bicycles to VELUX Commercial
Viktor began his career as a trainee in one of the largest Bicycle companies in Europe. He worked in Germany and was studying business administration in parallel. After 4 years, he became the assistant of the CEO and owner. In May 2014, Viktor joined JET as clerk for Export. Later he became the area manager for export markets such as Russia, Turkey and Croatia. At that time, JET had been bought and sold twice to equity partners, and there was a strong focus on figures, turnover and cost. The pressure on the organisation was quite high, so when Viktor’s former manager from the bicycle company called and asked him to come back, he decided to leave JET. “Two weeks later, I got the information, that VELUX had acquired JET, and this news almost upset me, because this was exactly, what I had been hoping for during my time in JET; to be part of strong brand. If I had known, that this was coming, I would not have left.” One year ago, Viktor therefore “re-joined” VELUX Commercial as manager for the German ordering management team of 32 people.
Passionate driver, nature lover and dad of three girls
Viktor loves a fast ride. Either in his car, driving far, or in a closed racing court, where 20 minutes of driving +200 km/hour can ease his mind after a long day of work. When not driving, he loves to walk in the forest or go on boat trips with a group of friends. Viktor was born in Kazakhstan, and his family moved back to Germany, when he was eight years old. Today he is a single dad to 3 girls at 17, 10 and 7.
Striving to build one team, offering one product portfolio
VELUX Commercial has the ambition to offer the full product portfolio across all markets, where they operate and change the role from being product provider to becoming the customers' preferred partner by offering advice throughout the entire process from specification to installation and service. For the sales teams, this means a radical change in the go-to market approach, new roles, and a need for training to sell the full product portfolio. Viktor and his team are in the middle of the transformation. According to him, the strategy is right, but there is still a way to go. To him the company structures and the products are important things to focus on: “If I had all the people and money in the world, I would make us become one company faster. I know, the legal company structure is underway, but to the customers, we are still JET Tageslicht, JET RAWA, etc. We experience confusion in the market, and we need to explain to the customer, who we are. I would also build a VELUX Commercial Training center, where we could learn about the full product portfolio, legal basis in our markets and internal processes.”