“Sales benefits from trustful interaction”

When, in August 2022, Pascal Schwindhammer started his job as head of sales at KABELMAT Wickeltechnik, a subsidiary of the HELUKABEL Group, he became an important contact for both his customers and team members. In this interview he explains what he finds particularly exciting about his job, how he goes about building successful relationships with customers – and why selling KABELMAT products is different from selling jelly babies.

Mr Schwindhammer, before joining the HELUKABEL Group, you worked for many years at a worldwide leading mechanical engineering company. Tell us about your career and what attracted you to your new job.

My career began with a degree apprenticeship in business computer science. When I’d finished that, I started working in industrial engineering where my job was to plan and set up factories abroad. For example, I spent one year in India and two in China and was responsible for promoting business activities in these regions. On returning to Germany, I became involved with the overall strategy of the group. The move into sales has been inspiring one for me because now I not only look at ways of optimising our own processes, but also those of our customers. I very much enjoy collaborating with users over long periods in order to help them find the right solution. KABELMAT was and is for me an exciting place to work because it has big growth potential. We are suppliers of powerful and innovative products which our customers will use for decades to come. But many potential customers have never heard of us and that’s where I see big opportunities in the future.

>>See more: Cable handling experience of KABELMAT

And how do you relax after a tiring day?

I like going to a good restaurant with delicious food, and combining that with a short walk – and I don’t mean just from the car to the restaurant. This allows me to recharge my batteries quickly. My hobbies play an important role here too – for example, I’m a member of the voluntary fire brigade. For longer periods of rest, I like going on holiday and travelling around the world.

KABELMAT manufactures handling equipment for cables, wires, pipes, steel cables, hoses and profiles. What’s the difference between selling such specialist technical equipment and selling, for example, jelly babies or sports shoes?

Consumer goods such as jelly babies are standardised and sold in large quantities to private individuals and the main aim is to satisfy personal preferences. Appearance, taste and well-being are key factors here – all things that users in mechanical engineering are usually less interested in. The sale of our products is substantially different: We are suppliers of machines that are used to wind diverse materials with extremely different properties. This means we have customers in different sectors, each with their own processes and requirements. The exciting thing about sales is getting involved and finding solutions that can be perfectly integrated into existing environments so that users can achieve their goals – be it through increased capacity, more flexibility or shorter delivery times. In sales, we also attach great importance to other topics such as efficiency and work safety. And another difference: when someone buys jelly babies or a pair of sports shoes, it’s that individual person’s decision whereas in industry, several people are involved in the process. We’re talking about much bigger sums of money here for long-term investments and these aren’t normally easy decisions for customers. It’s part of our job to accompany them through the process and provide them with support.