STRATEGIC PARTNERS
From engineer to beach bum to top ATM salesman, Bernard Uiterwijk has lived life to the fullest and learned some valuable lessons along the way. by Kevin Gibson, contributing writer
March 11, 2002
If there is a living example of finding a silver lining in the proverbial cloud, Bernard Uiterwijk is it.
After spending nearly a year of his life as a beach bum, then being thrown out of businesses repeatedly after failed sales calls, Uiterwijk is now a successful salesman with Intellicash ATM in Newark, Calif., and vice president of the ATM Owners Association.
Not that he ever had any doubt. He remembers meeting many people relaxing on the beach in California. "When you talked to them, they were usually salespeople and making pretty good money. I thought, 'Well, I'm better than them, I know that. If they can make that much, I'm sure I could do just as well or better than that.'"
Apparently he was right. Three years ago, he convinced his employers to get into the ATM business after several years of selling pay phones. While they were skeptical at first, Uiterwijk did months of research and eventually made a pair of cash sales. He brought a wad of several thousand dollars back to his bosses, and soon the foundation of Intellicash ATM was formed.
The Intellicash philosophy
Uiterwijk says the reason the company is successful is its dedication to taking care of the customer.
While doing research on the ATM business, "I found out that most companies were very poorly run. The salespeople were underpaid, the customers were not properly taken care of. I thought, 'what a beautiful niche.' All I have to do is buy the best product I can find and take care of my clientele, and I can make a gold mine.'"
Uiterwijk, whose nickname is "The Dutchman" because he grew up in the Netherlands, made a good call, but he stresses that customer service and happy employees remain the secrets to success in the ATM business -- or any business, for that matter.
"Our mission statement is anyone and everyone coming into the ATM business has to benefit from it," he said. "We strictly adhere to that; we pay our salespeople probably better than any other company, and we bend over backwards for service to our clientele. "
Uiterwijk said Intellicash also promotes the locations of its clients, "which makes the customer happy because he makes more money on his surcharges."
Now the company is trying to develop more revenue for itself from those locations with customer-friendly ideas like printing advertising on receipts, dispensing coupons from the machine, scrolling advertising on the screen or installing a phone card dispenser.
Intellicash salespeople get a cut of whatever money comes in from advertising. Uiterwijk, who has nearly 50 salespeople working for him, said most companies don't do that.
"We make them part of the whole business. The office people also are involved with clientele and the salespeople, and they too get a portion of all the transactions going on companywide. It is very important for everyone in the company to understand (the business) so that if anyone calls they can take care of that problem."
He said the key is thinking long term. By making every employee an important part of the company team, the company becomes more productive overall. "If you box them in, usually you box in a lot of talent and you only get what you direct them to do. If you give them room to be creative, usually they will be."
Intellicash has a motivational game going on for its salespeople. Make 40 sales in the next four months, and you get an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe for 10 days, courtesy of Intellicash. Make 20 sales, and you go to New Orleans for a long weekend, all expenses paid. Sometimes there are cash bonuses, as well.
Think that's not a good motivation? The Dutchman begs to differ. "Everybody is happy and that is important. Throughout our business, you will not find an unhappy person."
The Dutchman learns the ropes
And to think he was trained as an engineer. Uiterwijk studied engineering in the Netherlands and became a marine engineer in the Dutch merchant marines. During the last trip he ever made, he didn't see land for 51 days.
"When I came to shore, the world had changed," he recalled. "There were different cars, people were dressed differently. ... I realized the ocean is not the life for me, because life will go right past me."
At age 20, he came to the United States and worked for NASA for a short time before starting his own engineering firm with more than a dozen employees working for him. The business lasted about three years before he sold it.
"That was enough time to get me bored," he said. His beach bum days followed, which eventually led him to sales. He recalls getting a job with a sign company where he spent his first three weeks getting kicked out of nearly every place he entered.
Finally one day he was kicked out of a Greek restaurant, and he decided to stand back and watch the comings and goings. He saw other salespeople coming out with smiles, telling him that they were succeeding. So he went back inside and encountered an enraged manager.
"I told the guy I came in to apologize," Uiterwijk said. And from there he engaged the man in a conversation about why he was failing as a salesman. The man, apparently struck by Uiterwijk's honesty, told him what to say and what not to say during a sales call.
When the man finished, Uiterwijk said, "OK, so which sign do you want?"
"He laughed and laughed, and I made the sale," Uiterwijk said.
Since then, the Dutchman has sold everything from insurance to farm supplies, eventually finding his current niche in the ATM industry. The main thing, however, is he found what he loves to do.
"I love sales, that's for sure. That's the number one requirement."
Contact the Dutchman:
e-mail buiterwijk@aol.com
phone (800) 921-5556
