The interview with Berno Kleinherenbrink, ALD Automotive | LeasePlan

Well, we hope to keep them happy because during the last surveys that we have done, our customers are happy. And one of the things, of course, that we want to make sure is that we continue the services as they're known to get it, which means that depending, of course, on the size of the customer, they expect their account manager to stay the same, which we will try to do as much as possible. And what we have expressed as joint organizations is that we want to create no drama for our customers, continue as much as possible what we do, and build on that and try to improve that further. Because I think that one of the things that they trust from us is to continue to deliver what we have done over the past years.

Well, over the past year or even more than one year, we've had a good opportunity to create solid plans, to understand what our customers want from us, to understand what the drivers are expecting from us, and of course to prepare as much as possible for everything that we're going to do to avoid drama for our customers. I think that we really had the opportunity to think this through very well. We really had also the opportunity to look at the best practices and best-in-class ways of working within two really, really strong organizations. And I think that building on that will allow us really to make sure that not only we continue what we do, but we can also delight further and build into the future of sustainable mobility.

The focus will always be on our existing customers, but as part of making sure that we are a sustainable, healthy, and growing organization, we continuously need to onboard new customers. So that will also be part and parcel of what we do. But it's a combination of both. It's not a choice; it's always both. And I think that if you look at the ambition that we have going forward, the growth, that part and parcel of that will be also onboarding new customers. So the answer is both. And another important thing is, of course...

Our ambition is not to lose any customers. But we had a good chance to analyze, let's say, the overlap. The overlap is limited in the sense that we are quite complementary in the way that we have our customer portfolio, also from an international perspective. Over the past year, we've already had the opportunity to reach out to those customers where we were aware, and in some countries that's public information. And what we have seen is that quite a number of those customers are keen to work and to continue to work with us, even on an exclusive basis, which means that the joining of forces will allow them to get a single vendor proposition. There are, of course, always customers that have an explicit choice that they want to have a dual supply situation, but the percentage within the total portfolio that we have of those customers is really, really limited. So we do not expect drama over there. We don't expect drama over there. No, no.

One of the things that we have, of course, now been able to do is to really look at the strengths that we have relative to each other. What we found is that especially in the approach of international customers, there's more similarity than difference. In a sense, that's good. But in addition to that, we've also found that there's a bit of emphasis on certain areas where we are now able to build on that further. If you look at the whole program of electrification that ALD has gone through, the program of electrification that we have gone through too, there's a bit of difference in the sense that we are in some countries larger than ALD and vice versa. And building on that strength allows us also to fine-tune the commercial strategy. But the difference is not that big on international customers.

It will always, especially if you look at the real big customers, there will be a level of customization because there's of course a specificity that the customers have. It's either their drivers or their business that requires us to adapt to the requirements of those customers. And that is not necessarily a difference between us as organizations, but it's much more difference between the customers and the way that we want to address that. So that will definitely also be reflected in the approach that we take to the market.

Yes, I do. I love it. Who doesn't like Paris? It's a beautiful city. And I think that where we are based these days is less relevant in the sense that we're trying to serve customers worldwide. So that means that yes, I live in Amsterdam, but of course we serve as much as possible the activities that we have throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Thank you very much.