b"INTERVIEW TON VAN DEN BRULE | OLD-OWNER VAN SANTEN VERZEKERINGENNBP has become a household name in the market. We are even mentioned in the mandatory curriculum for insurance agencies.Ton van den Brule, a Rotterdam native, took his first steps as an entrepreneur in the insurance market at a young age. After over twelve years of entrepreneurship, Van den Brule sold his company Van Santen Verzekeringen in 2018 with the assistance of BHB Dullemond to Heinenoord. We asked him about the story behind the strong growth of his company, focusing on themes such as developing a customer-centric company culture, operating in a niche market, and achieving operational excellence.FROM AN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE TO Ajoined, and the company grew rapidly, sometimes SERVICE-ORIENTED FIRM by as much as 100% annually. NBP has since Van den Brule: 'After working at Van Santenbecome a household name in the market. We are Verzekeringen for several years, I took over theeven mentioned in the mandatory curriculum for entire company in 2006. Since customers are theinsurance agencies.'lifeblood of a business, one of my first priorities was to develop a customer-centric companyOPERATIONAL EXCELLENCEculture. I wanted to provide our customers with'Because NBP is characterized by high volume more added value than simply processing a policy.and low margins, a lean business process was This cultural shift took approximately five years.crucial, especially because we wanted to offer During our annual weekends in the Ardennes,competitive rates to our customers. With the we implemented programs to take people out ofhelp of our partially self-developed software, their comfort zones, so that answering the phonewe achieved more flow and shorter turnaround became more than just a task, and customerstimes, thereby maximizing value for the customer. felt welcome within our organization by allEach year, more than half of our customers employees. By putting the customer at the center,participated in our customer surveys, which we differentiated ourselves from other insurancerevealed that they wanted faster policy delivery. agencies and transformed from an administrativeUltimately, we delivered the policy within two office to a successful service-oriented insuranceminutes instead of the original 24 hours. When agency.' I sold the company in 2018, NBP served 50,000 customers. Due to the growth in the number of DUTCH BRANCH POLICY (NBP) Dutch administrators, NBP, under the umbrella of Van den Brule continues: 'In 2007, many insuranceHeinenoord, now has over 100,000 customers in agencies encountered difficulties due to theits portfolio as of 2023, and that is something to abolition of closing commissions. Since 60% ofbe proud of,' says Van den Brule.our revenue relied on closing commissions, we also had to develop new concepts. During that period, an existing customer asked if we could arrange collective healthcare policies for his administration company. Seeing potential in this product/market combination, the Dutch Branch Policy (NBP) was born in 2008. Four major insurers ANNIVERSARY EDITION 31"