What made you choose Dornier as your employer?
Firstly, it appealed to me on a personal level. We’ve got the best of both worlds: Older colleagues with a wealth of experience, and younger folk who occasionally like to tread new ground in their way of thinking.
And apart from that, the energy sector and all its service providers had just embarked on an era of great change when I joined. That was really exciting for me, having previously worked in the IT and automotive industries which had partly already undergone this process of change. In the automotive sector I came into contact with the energy industry, for instance with regard to urban charging infrastructure, and had my first opportunity to drive an electrically-powered vehicle. From then on, I was interested in how a central system of energy generation and supply can be converted into a decentralized one. This entails challenges and changes which are at times uncomfortable, but which present a great deal of opportunities to those willing to open themselves up to them.
What path have you taken through the company so far?
At the beginning it was important to make the business unit Power and Heat (formally: VPC widely known as a company, following its detachment from Vattenfall), together with its service portfolio. Then came the phase of increasing efficiency in the sales processes and making good use of suitable instruments to support them. Sales and marketing teams also had to be set up and attuned to one another. What is important now is identifying and occupying new issues and developing partnerships, because you can’t have your own people for every exotic subject any more. You need to know who best to partner up with, which works pretty well in a networked and digitalized world.
Can you tell us a bit about what you do and about your team?
Our work involves contacting clients, understanding requirements and building trust. The way I see it, a good sales person is therefore always a good listener. Despite all the technology: Project business is people’s business. It’s about creating something together. There are a lot of companies out there offering similar services and the competition is demanding. So what we ask ourselves is: Who are our customers and what are we better placed to offer them than others? Day-to-day business includes observing the market, drawing up tenders, negotiating with customers, forming networks, …. It’s a long list. It never gets boring.
