Man on a mission
The year was 2008. A cloudy Friday afternoon. I was then in Curitiba airport hall joining my company management board, as we were waiting for the flight back to S?o Paulo. The end of that workday seemed to be quite special: we just had received "the" big supply contract award from the Global Purchasing VP (in person) of an important auto company. A lot of "Blood, Sweet And Tears" had been dropped so far (do not be confused with that Old 60s Rock Band) And Now The Result Had Come....
Of course I was happy: this is the pinnacle of any sales professional who wants to be successful - the "big purchase order" was now at hand...
Turns out my bosses started looking at me kind of weird while waiting for the flight. It seemed they were quickly making a kind of circle around me.
My CEO then started the conversation:
- We have a new mission for you, Denis. Our people from Argentina need some help there...
Our company had just taken over a plant in Argentina, which served the local automakers and was really not in its best days, including margins.
A little preamble here: Argentina is a country with peculiarities that make industrial operation a great challenge: devaluation of the peso, high inflation, strong unions, etc.
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It therefore seemed quite "the" challenge for me: dealing with both a difficult business environment and people from another culture, like the customers and my own sales team. At the same time, a lot of pressure from management for getting results. That means: all customer price lists should be right quickly...so you must imagine what complex mission was that....
I confess that it was quite an experience - "a man on a mission" - working in Argentina, and clearly that times contributed for my personal and professional "training".
This is another success case I'm very proud of. I will be happy in receiving your call and sharing with you other success cases that show my compromise approach to contribute for the success of your business.
Thank you!
Denis A. Perone
phone: +55.11.94279.5999