The sales team:
When we enter Leuveld’s office, the tremendous dynamism is noticeable right away. Everyone is busy. Orders are being processed, quotations prepared, phone calls are being made in various languages to growers and customers, and the front desk is buzzing with drivers coming to load. This is a typical spring day at Leuveld. Always busy and on the go.
Leuveld serves customers throughout Europe. The company has invested a great deal in recent years to serve these customers effectively and professionally. Both in the team and in the supporting systems.
The sales team of Leuveld consists of 4 people. Roy, Joost, Dinand and Ronald. Together, they make up a nice mix of years of knowledge and experience in the sector and a young and fresh view of the market. The guarantee of a dynamic team. We all have one thing in common. We want to make things as easy as possible for you as a customer.
“We get a kick out of answering our customers’ questions as quickly and as well as possible”, says Dinand. That’s what the customers like about us. No long waiting times
but a suitable offer preferably within a few hours, is our aim. In recent years we’ve invested a lot in the computer system. We have a very modern system and a large database with the most up-to-date information on available plants in the market. We can see right away what we have in the nursery ourselves, as well as what’s available from a large group of partner growers. This allows us to answer a lot of questions super-fast.
An additional advantage of working with partner growers is that we know them well. So we know that they meet your quality requirements. ‘We find it very important that you can trust us 100%’, says Roy. Roy has long years of experience as an outdoor plant buyer and knows the market through and through. Besides actively following up our partner growers, he helps the sales team with answering specific questions.
We’re actually your eyes and ears in the market. Every week, we look at what’s available
from growers and look for the best solution to all your questions. You can buy the complete package of hedge plants from us directly at the source. What’s more, we’ve got all the knowledge in house to meet any additional needs and wishes you may have. You might think of the following needs: trees, shrubs, perennials, roses and groundcovers. We like to think along as a partner and are the connecting factor between supply and demand.
In the years to come, we want to be much more active in informing our customers about the great offers on the market and about what is available. For this reason, we produce a weekly offer and we’ve worked hard on setting up a web shop. We’ll tell you more about that later!
From order to delivery:
Our customers don’t want to worry about getting their plants delivered. They want certainty that the right plants will be delivered at the right time and in good quality.
The salespeople choose the right products for our customers, but Jos and Michel, together with the logistics team, also see to it that all the orders are delivered on time and in full. Jos orders the plants from our partner growers and handles the planning of all transportation. Michel takes care of the processing and loading of orders together with the logistics team.
A lot has changed here last year, according to Jos. We’ve changed the entire layout of our building and started working with scanners. Since the beginning of this year, all pot-grown plants are packed in the greenhouse and all root-balled plants in the hall. This has numerous advantages. Vulnerable pot-grown plants aren’t standing between heavy pallets with root balls and the root balls are in ideal conditions so that they don’t dry out due to sun and wind.
We have the plants delivered as fresh as possible. The sooner they go from the field to the truck, the better the quality. We’ve also installed a sprinkler system so that all the plants are moist enough before loading. Plants sometimes travel for quite a long time, so the right humidity is important for the quality.
Three checks:
One of the most important changes in our logistics is the introduction of scanners
and hand terminals. “We’re moving towards paperless logistics”, Jos says. Previously,
everything was recorded on paper in the hall. “Everything had to be kept up to date
by hand and it’s easy to make a mistake”, says Michel.
One of the most important changes in our logistics is the introduction of scanners and hand terminals. “We’re moving towards paperless logistics”, Jos says. Previously, everything was recorded on paper in the hall. “Everything had to be kept up to date by hand and it’s easy to make a mistake”, says Michel.
That’s why we started digitalising the logistics this year. As of this year, all the plants are checked 3 times. As a first step, we scan all the plants on arrival. This way we know exactly what has come in and we can quickly detect possible deviations.
As a next step, we started scanning all the plants during packaging this summer. Each batch of plants that’s being packed on CC trolleys or pallets is scanned. This way,
we can tell our customers exactly what’s on which CC trolley or pallet. Starting this autumn, every CC or pallet will have a clear sticker. This will show the name of the customer and what’s on the CC or pallet. This way, the carrier knows exactly where which CC or pallet has to go and the customer can see exactly what’s on each CC or pallet. When the truck is loaded, we scan again to make sure that everything is included in the order. In fact, almost nothing can go wrong anymore, Jos and Michel tell us, laughing. But the human element is still there.
Transport
Leuveld supplies customers throughout almost all of Europe. That requires a network
of top transporters. Over the years, we’ve built up a network of experienced plant
transporters. Thanks to this network, we can deliver to almost every corner of Europe
on a regular basis.
We provide transport for very numerous customers. Leuveld wants to relieve its customers of all their worries, from the grower to the farm, and reliable and efficient transport is a very important factor in this. ‘During the season, I plan tens of transports a day’, Jos says. ‘Our system always gives me a good idea of the transport needs. I always do my utmost to plan deliveries for customers perfectly’.
Just ask our sales staff about the options. We’ll be happy to arrange it for you and we can tell you exactly what the possibilities and costs are for each delivery. Of course, you always want to know where you stand and you want to be sure that everything runs smoothly.
