In manufacturing and wholesale, where margins are razor-thin, Propeller puts its finger on the sore spot: salespeople are drowning in admin. The promise from the two founders, commercial director Jans Gaver and CEO Jeroen Verberg (ex-Hippo): cut out the tedious work, unite e-commerce and sales in a single platform, and let AI do the dirty work. The result? More time with customers, fewer chances for errors, and up to a doubling of revenue per salesperson.
"Sales wants to sell — not tick boxes"
Gaver knows the pain from experience, including at Dell: "Salespeople want to sell, but they spend 60 to sometimes 80 percent of their time creating orders, handling cancellations, answering 'where's my package?' questions and messing around in spreadsheets." Propeller tackles this at the root: standard B2B processes are already built in, quotes and orders run through the same platform as the web shop, and sales gets all pricing and product data straight from ERP and PIM. The effect is twofold: lower operational costs and higher revenue per FTE.
An important nuance for the two men: AI does not replace the salesperson, it gives them a right hand. "The annoying work goes away, while the fun part — the customer conversation and closing the deal — stays," says Gaver.
B2B is not B2C — but it should feel like it
The reality according to Propeller: in B2B an average of 30% of orders come in via self-service; 70% still goes through sales (quotes, custom work, larger deals). "That's exactly why you need to bring e-commerce and sales together," says Verberg. "With one platform you get a single source of truth in your data and you can steer intelligently. Think of cross- and upsell suggestions in the quoting tool, customer-specific pricing agreements without spreadsheets, and faster, error-free quoting."
A strong example from manufacturing: spare parts. Propeller lets companies record machine configurations per customer and automatically links them to the right parts. "No more wrong parts, and faster service," says Gaver.
AI agents that listen in and write along
Verberg: "Our API-first architecture is built to integrate and innovate. Partners and customers develop on top of Propeller. AI agents can already retrieve missing information (e.g. shipping costs) and automatically add it to a quote via our APIs. Next step: listening AI that prepares the quote right after a customer conversation. Sales checks it, personalises it and sends it off."
The way you steer the business changes too. Dashboards make way for 'talking to your data'. "In a chat interface, managers ask questions like: Which customers haven't ordered anything for 3 months? Which quotes are stuck? That's the new UX," says Verberg.
Out of the custom-development swamp
A classic pitfall: misusing a B2C shop for B2B, or stuffing a generic platform full of custom work. Verberg: "Then you end up with lots of custom work and suboptimal processes. With us, B2B best practices are built into the product as standard. You configure what you need instead of tinkering with basic processes."
Sales stays in the driver's seat. "Digitalisation is not a marketing party," Verberg stresses. "Involve sales early. They know the exceptions. That's precisely how you get a solution that works on the floor."
ERP + PIM: the lifeline of success
Propeller connects ERP (master data, complex customer-specific pricing) and PIM (commercial product information, bundles, upsell). "Garbage in = garbage out," says Gaver. "Make sure your ERP data is correct, enrich it in PIM, and let the platform pass that one-to-one to sales as well. Then you make quoting just as smooth as placing a web shop order."
Implementation: prototype in 4 weeks, then hypercare
The approach is tight and tangible:
- Discovery: current situation, data quality, goals.
- Within 4 weeks: a working prototype with the first ERP integration. "Then everyone sees how it will work, and 'oh-by-the-way' wishes become visible," says Gaver.
- Sharpen the scope and only then build.
- Hypercare at go-live: a soft launch with a few customers, and only then roll out. "We only let go once it actually works — after that it goes to support."
The KPI that counts: revenue per salesperson
For all the talk: productivity = revenue per sales employee. That's the core KPI. In addition, the new chat interface gives managers insight into lead times, quote status and customer behaviour — without a BI maze.
What does it cost?
Licences have fixed rates at Propeller (available on their website). Implementation varies:
- Entry level (ERP connection, limited design): from ~€25,000.
- Large projects with multiple integrations and extensive design: ~€200,000–€300,000 in total.
"You can grow modularly: start with e-commerce/customer portal, and add sales flows when your organisation is ready for them," says Gaver.
Start small, think big (and avoid migration pain)
Verberg's warning is crystal clear: don't just quickly build a small shop on a dead-end platform. "That seems cheap, but you get stuck and end up having to migrate anyway. Choose a future-proof platform from day one. You can start small on Propeller, but with the architecture to keep growing."
Case in practice: "From 10–30% online to a 100% productivity leap"
One early customer came in with the classic goal: from 10% to 30% online. Propeller turned the question around: optimise the 70% offline too. The ambition shifted to 100% productivity growth for the sales team — selling twice as much without extra FTE. "They just went live; the early signs point in the right direction," says Gaver.
The human touch remains sacred
Research (from Gartner, among others, the two men say) indicates that even in 2030, customers will still want human contact in 75% of cases for larger decisions. That's precisely why Propeller focuses on automating where possible and advising where necessary. AI and automation clear the path so that sales can sell more, better and more personally.
The bottom line
- Problem: sales burns 60–80% of its time on admin; 70% of B2B orders go through sales, 30% via self-service.
- Solution: one platform for e-commerce + sales, API-first, with ERP & PIM as the backbone, and AI agents for routine tasks.
- Result: lower costs, more revenue per FTE, faster and less error-prone quoting, better data-driven steering.
- Approach: discovery → prototype in 4 weeks → build → hypercare.
- Getting started: from ~€25k for implementation, modularly expandable; large projects scale up with integrations/design.
- Core KPI: revenue per salesperson.
Want to know more about how Propeller can double your sales productivity? Get in touch with Propeller; you'll find Jans's contact details in the description below this episode.