Sales Support

Start of the day

I usually start my day with a quick espresso at home before heading for the highway to Kitzingen. While driving, I listen either to a variety of business podcasts if possible or I make my first calls to my team and my colleagues in China and India. It doesn't matter whether I’m talking to colleagues or executives, the interpersonal aspect is always extremely important to me. Alongside our regular meetings, I therefore always cultivate informal discussion (face to face or virtual coffee) to understand what concerns and motivates my colleagues in their professional and private lives.

Morning

In the morning, I focus on getting up to speed with the teams. We discuss day-to-day business, current problems, and possible solutions but we also talk about in-house projects for the future. To give an example: we are in the process of establishing a global costing database and are thinking about how to integrate and digitize the interfaces with other departments, such as Purchasing and Development. Going forward, this database will help our sales colleagues worldwide in largely automating product costings and in creating internal benchmarks. But we also discuss which events or tech days our Sales Marketing will attend and which prototypes and products we want to market to customers in the near future. So, as you can see, my segment has a very broad and varied base, and it presents an extremely diverse array of issues.

Lunch break

Between 12 noon and 1 p.m. is “lunch break” (if time allows). I enjoy going to our canteen in Kitzingen, with the appealing name “Kupferkessel” (copper kettle). It always serves fresh and regional products with frequently changing menus. As a pleasant side-effect I repeatedly meet many colleagues from different departments there without prior arrangement, which also allows us to discuss issues informally.

Afternoon

My afternoons are usually really busy because there are so many meetings. My various teams have many points of contact with all kinds of departments, for example Accounting, Purchasing or the shop floor. On top of this, there is a whole variety of special topics, such as the contribution of Sales to our internal performance program or the Ukraine Task Force.

In the late afternoon and evening I can usually be found in my office working through emails, analyses, invoices, or other to-do lists. But I always also try to take the time to meet with my colleagues in the office and to talk to them directly about the issues because sharing information within the department is extremely important to me! Our kitchenettes and generous open spaces also provide a lot of space and opportunities for having conversations.

Evening

Back onto the highway! My evening begins after the last phone calls with my teams in Mexico and the U.S. Back home, I swap my office outfit for sneakers and go running or out for a walk – the exercise does me good! Occasionally I prepare presentations for the Executive Board or Supervisory Board and plan my next day.