“It’s all about trust”

“The essence of successful selling has stayed pretty much the same over the years: it’s still all about people building relationships, face to face. But so much else has changed dramatically. When I started out in 1988, I would travel up and down the country with measuring instruments like the Liquiphant point level switch, visiting seven or eight customers a day, five days a week. Along with finding buyers, we also had coffee together, chatted about sports and the weather. Those days are gone. The coffee is still fine, but expectations have increased tremendously. Customers not only want much quicker responses, they also expect professional, knowledgeable and experienced contacts who help them add value to their business. You need to be an expert, not just a box-shifting salesperson — someone who knows their industry, understands their processes and can suggest improvements that they might never have thought of.

For this reason, EMC is now building up a nationwide network to offer customers complete solutions and valueadded services. This creates the necessity to train our own people in far greater depth than before, which is no easy task here in far-off New Zealand. Online seminars from Europe are almost always after hours, and even when there’s in-person training, Bangkok is still closer to Europe than to New Zealand. There aren’t even any direct flights to visit Endress+Hauser’s Asia-Pacific Support Center in Vietnam.

All of this notwithstanding, I chose to go with Endress+Hauser. Until the early 1990s, EMC acted as an agent for many manufacturers. But when the opportunity presented itself to me at EMC, I quickly dedicated my activities to Endress+Hauser. I actually worked for two years at Endress+Hauser, to gain knowledge and experience. My first job was at the Center of Competence for level and pressure measurement technology in Maulburg, the second at Endress+Hauser International in Weil, where I met my wife, then lastly at the flow measurement technology production center in Reinach. After that, things were very clear: I saw how dynamic the company was, as well as the importance given to growth, family values and new technologies. I also appreciated the open and direct lines of communication.