The Westend61 Sales Team: Finding tailor-made solutions for customers

Successful visual communication is not a coincidence, but the result of customized image concepts. A professional stock photo provider should not be a photo “hardware store” where you can find the right thing with little (or no) luck, but instead should support the customer with advice and assistance during the search through the image jungle (…after all, Westend61 currently has more than 1.1 million motifs on offer…). Individual, personal support is the strength of Westend61. After all, what use are the most beautiful photos if they are not targeted to and custom-made for the man or woman?

Sales team, Esther Reiter, Andrea Fichtl, and Daniela Schwarz, who we have the pleasure of introducing to you here, play key roles in the Westend61 team. In close coordination with the Art Department, they act as personal contacts for the customers. And because customers know they are well advised, they like to come back! When we talked to Esther, Andrea, and Daniela, we again discovered that “colorful” résumés with cross-industry qualifications are good prerequisites for working in a creative team like the one at Westend61.

Always see “the other side,” too

Esther Reiter, for example, combines artistic and commercial professional experience. Before joining Westend61 in January 2021, Esther had worked for another large stock provider for 15 years. Originally, she had flirted with a theater career and worked as a stage assistant for two years after school. She later completed additional training at the Bavarian Academy for Advertising and Communication to become a communications manager. So she also knows the needs of the advertising industry and how companies’ advertising departments think.

The personal exchange with customers and colleagues, the team spirit, and the direct line to the photographers were the deciding factors for her decision to work for Westend61. Of course, she was already familiar with the team and the Westend61 portfolio from her previous work: “They simply have the coolest products among the photo agencies in Germany. The images are authentic and tailored to the European market.”

The shorter communication channels at Westend61 make it easier to respond quickly to customer requests. “This means we are more likely able to realize individual solutions for our customers,” says Esther. This is not only an added value for the customers, but is gratifying in their own work: “We directly get the appreciation of our customers, and that’s a sense of achievement every time,” is her experience.

Optimal digital workflow is also important

Improving sales channels also involves optimizing digital processes. Andrea Fichtl, who also joined the sales team in January 2021, brings additional, valuable qualifications to the table. Before working for a major stock photo provider for six years, she trained as an office communications clerk and worked in project management at a Microsoft subsidiary for eleven years. “So I can also relate to the world of IT specialists,” says Andrea. It’s no coincidence, then, that in addition to her sales activities at Westend61, she is also working on new IT solutions for even greater customer satisfaction in order to improve service quality.

For her, naturalness, authenticity, and the European visual language of the portfolio were the deciding factors in switching to Westend61. Here she has the opportunity to contribute her commercial and creative skills in equal measure. And she also likes the personal working atmosphere and team spirit at Westend61: “There’s no competitive thinking; we all work hand in hand here.” She also appreciates the greater flexibility that working for an owner-operated provider allows: “For example, it’s easier to design the licensing models to fit the customer’s individual needs.”

Short communication channels in all directions and lively exchange of ideas

The third member is Daniela Schwarz, who joined the Westend61 team in June 2021. For her, too, the path to the creative industry was preordained. She graduated with a degree in advertising from a cinema advertising agency. This laid the foundation for her professional career.

“I am fascinated by the many ways images can convey emotions and messages,” says Daniela. With 14 years of experience in the photo agency business, she brings plenty of expertise in visual communication and client management, skills from which Westend61 can now benefit. “If we can incorporate the fantastic premium images of our photographers into client projects that underline and reinforce the overall creative concept, it is the success for our images that we desire,” says Daniela.

A lively exchange of ideas is essential to ensure that the images of the men and women behind the camera always have that certain something and sell well. That’s why Daniela and her colleagues are always feeding the art department with new ideas and customer requests, which are then passed on to the photographers.

In this way, one gear interlocks with another in Westend61’s well-oiled creative machine, so to speak. The goal of expanding direct sales is clear, not only to maintain the company’s position as a major player in the stock photo market, but also to expand it further.