PEOPLE
FRANS POPPELIERS, PIANOMETROPOOL
Piano guru Frans Poppeliers specializes in pianos and grand pianos with Pianometropool. For enthusiasts a true nirvana where both the classical piano and the digital design grand piano can be found. Frans has the blood of a true salesman running through his veins. But how did he become the entrepreneur that Frans is today and who was his wheelbarrow? Text: Mical Joseph
Image: John van Helvert
“My first part-time job was as a crew member on a boat that caught sharks in the middle of the sea near Portugal. I was 15 years old at the time and did this every summer for about 3 years. I got this job through my father's then partner who was also in the piano business. As a hobby he caught sharks, the American way: big game fishing.
Once there was a dangerous moment where I held my heart. We attracted the sharks by means of a blood trail from pressed sardines in the net. When moving and throwing all the junk overboard and sailing backwards, a steel underline got stuck between the engines, preventing the ship from sailing any further. 50 kilometers from the coast, with only the sea around us. I had to go down into the water to remove the steel line from the screws. I thought that was a scary moment, because the blood trail obviously attracted sharks.”
What advice would you give to your 18 year old self?“More consolidation. So don't want to do everything at once: focus. As a young adult you quickly get caught up in your own enthusiasm and want to accelerate. Sometimes it's good to have one goal and achieve it before tackling the next goal.”
How did you end up in your current job?“Apart from my part-time job as a crew member big game fishing I've never had a job. I worked for my father and my uncle. Since I was 20e I worked independently, but also together with them. The family had quite a few shops and also sold surfboards, garden furniture and seating furniture. At the end of the 90s we sold the entire business and that's when I started my current specialization: 'keyboarding'. So pianos and grand pianos. Since I was 8e I have been surrounded by electronic organs and pianos for the last year of my life. This was because my family traded in this.”
Who was your wheelbarrow in that?“My father was my great mentor. He was a very good salesman and was Dutch champion stand worker four times from the age of 18. Selling has always been in his blood.”
What has been your biggest learning moment in your career?“My father said when I was fifteen: “You can't do anything about it.” He said this in response to a situation at the Flevohof (nowadays Walibi Holland amusement park). In the 80s we had the opportunity to sell electronic organs there. He always said: “You can sell anywhere people walk. Does not matter what". For six weeks in a row in the summer, my father and two other salespeople at the amusement park sold not one organ, but 300 organs. After those sales weeks, he left the park with a high turnover.
When I was 15 years old, my father instructed me to go to the Flevohof with a salesman to sell the organs. I didn't sell a single organ. The next day I tried again: again no organs sold. The third day my father came to help sell. He sold five organs in one day. At that moment my father was right in his statement: I couldn't do anything. After his response, I learned how to sell within a week. That is why the moment in the Flevohof was my greatest learning moment. If you say 'no', the sale only begins.”
Have you been a wheelbarrow for someone?“I am still a wheelbarrow for upcoming talent, upcoming self-employed people and certainly for my children. I have four children, two of whom work in my business. The case is being planned for my middle child and my last child is only one year old. With us, in general, you move quickly within the family in terms of career. It gives a lot of pleasure to have the children within your own company.”
