Senior Sales Manager

Interview with Pascal Kitschke

Visit and exhibition at the Swiss MedTech Day in Bern
Customer meetings
Specialist presentations
Varied!

A day in the life of a Senior Sales Manager

Pascal, you are a passionate firefighter, family man, university tutor and, of course, most importantly, Senior Sales Manager at DMT Product Engineering - and have been for almost five years. I'm very interested to know: How did you come to DMT? What did you do before that? What was your training?

I found my way to the dual university via the technical high school, was able to study mechanical engineering there and was able to start in development and mechanical design in the traditional way. Here, I kept coming into contact with sales tasks and activities, which is how I found my way to DMT via project planning and technical sales. I simply found the job advertisement on StepStone.

What are your tasks as a Senior Sales Manager with us?

DMT is a project company, so no two projects are the same. There are few recurring tasks and it is a very broad field in which we are allowed to work. I also really enjoy it. In other words, I would say that in sales we are there to represent the company at trade fairs, congresses and other events. Then it's about acquiring new customers and interested parties for DMT and convincing them of DMT. In addition, there is also the maintenance of existing customers and customer relationships.

A few days ago, we had the pleasure of accompanying you in your day-to-day work. Pascal was visiting us at the Swiss Medtech Day in Bern. Would you like to tell us how your day started and what it had in store for you?

In a nutshell, I would say that Swiss Medtech Day is one of the really nice congresses that takes place every year. I think it's really impressive because it's held in the Kursaal in Bern and you can see the city and the mountains from there. It's really sensational.

The working day actually started the day before, as we left DMT in the afternoon. It takes us about three to four hours to get to Bern from here. We arrived in the evening and were able to go to the Kursaal to put our things away so that we were prepared for our exhibition. We then checked into the hotel and set off the next morning.

We went to breakfast at around 7:30 a.m., checked out of the hotel again at around 8:00 a.m. and drove to the Kursaal. The event started between 8.30 and 9 a.m. and the congress day began.

Does that mean you have to take the time to prepare for the day?

Exactly. For me, the Swiss Medtech Day has a huge advantage. There's a really great online platform where you can register in advance and filter the exhibitors. There are about 50 exhibition tables where individual companies present themselves. We were one of them. In addition, there are many companies that go there as visitors or employees of the exhibiting companies. We look at this exhibition list in advance and think about which companies we already know and which we don't know. We then filter out the companies that are of interest to us. Basically, we try to get the full program out of the day through this preparation so that we can talk to as many people as possible.

The way I see it, your job is also very people-oriented if you are always in conversations and trying to introduce DMT to potential customers, isn't it?

Yes, absolutely. I've been at DMT for almost five years now and this was my fourth Swiss Medtech Day. You always meet people you know on site and try to build up a relationship. Our work in sales also thrives on personal relationships.

What would you say was the aim of the congress?

Building relationships with potential customers, testing out new events and further training is also a topic. There are several keynotes and specialist presentations throughout the day that discuss topics such as developments, trends, challenges or difficulties in the industry.

If you can look back on the day, what did you like most about the day?

We were really lucky with the weather, which meant a fantastic panorama, but of course we were also there to work (laughs). I thought it was an all-round successful event.

I can tell you had fun that day (laughs). Are there also days when you are here on site at DMT? Is that a good mix?

Yes. I would say I'm definitely in the office a lot more, because it's also about preparing for trade fairs, congresses and external appointments. The whole thing then has to be followed up properly and we have ongoing projects from customers that I am allowed to look after, in which I am just as involved. I also have project meetings at DMT and we have team meetings in marketing and sales. That's definitely a lot of office work or desk work.

To summarize, how would you describe your job at DMT in three short words or in one very short sentence?

Varied!