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Team

We are proud to present: Lars Hofmann

Senior Sales Manager Lars not only brings the product to the man and woman, but also supports with his expertise. We asked him eight questions.

by Maik Klotz, 2021-12-16
3 min

You know the story. Every day you run into people in the office, at Google Meet or on LinkedIN and you think: Who the heck is that? That's why we're introducing the people who make Paymenttools what it is: a start-up with a soul.

Eight questions for

Lars Hofmann, 44 Jahre, Senior Sales Manager at Paymenttools

Lars, since when have you been working at Paymenttools and why?

I joined Paymenttools in September 2021. Of course, the first talks started much earlier and I was skeptical at first when I heard that they wanted to build a new payment service provider. However, I quickly realized that it was not just a crazy idea, but that the whole topic had a lot going for it and, above all, that there was an incredibly motivated team behind it.  Since then, I've been on fire and didn't need much convincing in the end. Now I'm working on the "one-stop PSP" mission at full speed

As Senior Sales Manager, you are responsible for sales. What is important and what is particularly important to you?

As the interface between technology and finance departments, payment is a sensitive area, and trust therefore plays an essential role here. Providing the right advice to partners and coordinating the scope of services, in addition to the terms and conditions, are important points that are decisive in solution sales. The greatest compliment for me is when a partner tells me, "I will gladly do business with you again at any time.

Paymenttools aims to rethink payments. Why do you need to do that?

Even if it sounds a bit nerdy, payment is dynamic, sexy and innovative in my eyes. At least when you get it right, and this is where Paymenttools come into the game. Shopping habits have changed massively in recent years, driven first by digitalization and not least by the pandemic development. Even in Germany, customers are paying less and less in cash and using a variety of different payment methods at the POS and in e-commerce. In my view, payment transactions have become more complex for customers and retail partners. In addition, new players are emerging, existing players are merging or disappearing, some are experiencing a second spring, and others are walking through history as the undead. Ongoing technological advances also mean that entirely new options are on the horizon that could impact all of our payment behaviors. In short, there is a dramatic amount happening in payments right now, and in an environment that is changing so fast and so much, you naturally want to influence the direction.

When you look at your own professional career, where did you really miss the mark?

A long time ago, at the beginning of my professional career in the payment industry, I once believed that customers and their payment behavior could be controlled effectively and that mobile payments would quickly become established. Since then, more than 10 years have passed and it unfortunately took a pandemic to slowly move transaction numbers in the right direction.

Where can we find you when you are on vacation?

Mostly far away in another culture. In any case in the sun, mostly at, on or under water. I love diving for my life and am anything but a shade plant.

Organization is everything, or only the genius masters chaos? How do you organize your everyday work? 

My working day is perfectly structured and organized, until the first customer phone call and then reality rules. Fortunately, in an agile start-up like Paymenttools, that's how it should be ;-)

Lars gadgets

What gadgets do you need to survive on the job? Lets take a look in your bag

Does coffee count as a gadget? Because I need it like an engine needs oil. There are also a few things that are indispensable in my life:

  1. My smartphone, an iPhone 12 (are there other smartphones).

  2. Solid headphones. Since I'm not that careful with my stuff, I opted for the Jabra Elite.

  3. My Macbook Air

  4. Credit cards. I pay everywhere with card, accordingly I have many cards. Even a girocard.

  5. A notepad

Who would you like to have an organic grape soda with?

Dr. Snuggles or Elon Musk. For me Dr. Snuggles is cooler because I am a child of the 80s.

Maik Klotz is a consultant, speaker and author specializing in banking, payment, digital identity, e-commerce and retail. He was profiled by the Süddeutsche Zeitung in the industry's "Influencer" series and moderates and speaks at many industry events. Maik is co-founder of Payment & Banking.

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