Management Motivations: Know your customers – build trust for the long-term

Management Motivations is a new series of articles by Quectel’s senior executives that explores their management styles, approaches to the challenges of further developing the company and what drives them to lead and succeed.

Pini Sagi, Regional GM, Sales

4. Know your customers – build trust for the long-term

I lead the sales team in my region, managing people who are widely spread and composed of different cultures and working practices. Strengthening the team is an ongoing challenge and I give it high priority by setting clear goals and a path to success. I focus on sharing my experience, guiding people through different situations and delegating responsibilities. These are important ways to develop my salespeople. This goes hand-in-hand with backing them up when needed. I encourage self-thinking and audacity. As the old saying, where I agree the most – “It is better to calm the over-enthusiastic than have to encourage the lazy”.

IoT is a global market and local companies are developing services and products for the global market. The number of applications that require wireless connection is growing and the diversity of them is incredible. The mass IoT market is just starting and the growth potential is enormous.

This growth to hyperscale brings a multitude of challenges for our customers and we want to help them in every way we can. We do this firstly by communicating with them, listening to their requirements, asking structured questions, and creating a dialogue.

Customers very much appreciate you when you approach them already prepared, knowing their products, technology, their target markets, possible competition and their ecosystem. Getting this kind of information is easier due to many online resources including LinkedIn, market research and other sources, as well as my own experience with the market and its players. When you meet them from a position of knowledge, having thought through not only what they need today, but also what they might look for in the future really helps build relationships and generate trust.

I believe it is important to keep yourself busy with goals. Life is like riding a bicycle: you fall when you stop pedaling forward. That’s reflected in my leisure time. I like to ride cross-country and on gravel and find it a great way to relax, enjoy the outdoors and keep in shape. I also enjoy riding my motorbike – that is pure exhilarating fun. During normal times, my favorite vacation would include travelling abroad with my loved ones, discovering interesting new people and places, hiking and experiencing new adventures.