Working at Heyl
Hi! I am Joost Mens, live in Rijnsburg, married to Renate and we have 3 children. Since the end of 2018 I have been working at Kyria 4 Floristen BV, which is part of Heyl.
Kyria was set up as an independent company because its objectives differ from those of the flower trade. Kyria aims to support the florist in the field of digitization. We have developed a number of products for this. For example, we want to help the florist with the checkout, writing invoices, but also ordering and paying online.
We have developed two products for this: firstly, a digital cash register system. Both the hardware and the software. Secondly, an online platform where florists can join and open their own online shop.
The digital cash register system is something that the customer uses and needs every day. Using this system, the florist can perform many administrative tasks more easily and quickly, so that she has time to work with flowers and customers! Currently there are about 75 florists who use our cash register system.
“We built, maintained and further developed this with our own colleagues.”
When we first had to deal with corona, we decided to support the florist even more actively digitally by setting up a platform ourselves: Local Florist. We built, maintained and further developed this with our own colleagues. We provide an online system that every independent florist can easily use, without having to have complex digital knowledge. We keep the shops up-to-date to relieve the florist in her daily work. For example, we have ensured that an invoice is automatically sent to the customer for every completed order. We also keep the customer informed during the order process. Something that is almost unique, because many online flower shops do not do this. Meanwhile, Melanie (customer service) is also involved in the daily activities and support of Local Florist and Geeta (customer service) helps with calling florists. Barbara (comm. mdw. internal service) writes a weekly blog to inform, inspire and help Google to find us better. At the time of writing, we have more than 270 affiliated florists. Many are customers of Heyl, but there are florists from all over Germany!
I get a lot of energy from the way we as a company serve the florist and the added value that goes much further than just supplying flowers. When I entered, my German was far from optimal. I had to take steps quickly to be able to have a full conversation with customers and potential customers. There is a lot of room within Heyl to learn and develop. That goes with trial and error, but together we have the same goal and together we can do great things!
Have you become enthusiastic about Joost's story and would you like to strengthen our team? View our vacancies here!