International sales and marketing people often refer to the Bundesrepublik as an exceptionally demanding marketplace, and the car industry is no exception. We asked Phyron’s country manager for Germany, Marek Andreasson to share some of his insights.
Hi Marek. Within the Phyron world, you are known as “Mr. Germany”. So, how German are you?
Born and bred! I was born, grew up, went to school, started a career and family, and effectively spent my first 30 years or so in Hamburg. At the age of 21, I founded my own business, a music recording studio. Later I started working for Apple in Germany and I was eventually asked to do the business development for Apple´s pro Audio products in Sweden.
My father is Swedish, and I was quite familiar with the country. So I moved here in 2005, and stayed on. Since 2019 I am Phyron’s Country Manager for Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and spend a fair share of my working hours communicating with customers and partners in my mother tongue.
How different is Germany from Sweden?
Hamburg, where I grew up, is not that different from Stockholm where I live and work now. Similarly well-organized, dependable, quality conscious, and usually rather modest people. But German work relations are generally more formal and more authoritative. And these differences seem even more evident in southern Germany.
Why do so many sales and marketing people find Germany such a tough nut to crack?
First and foremost, you have to master the language, and understand the local business culture. If you don’t, forget it.
Then you have to provide some really good reasons to buy. Much like the US, Germany is self-sufficient in so many areas. Whatever you have to sell there is almost always a high-quality, German-made alternative, provided by familiar, German-speaking people. And in a hierarchical organization a buyer may find it difficult to explain to the boss why he or she is opting for a foreign supplier. Or unwilling to take the risk.
Another factor may be that the seller gives up too easily. What the seller perceives as a slow process may in fact reflect a thorough evaluation or analysis of the product or service.
You are a “country manager”, what does that mean in practice? What exactly do you do?
I spend most of my time communicating with potential and established customers and partners. Sharing information and ideas, responding to questions and requests. This has worked surprisingly well during the pandemic, and now I work hard trying to catch up, meeting people face to face. I also have to keep up with our ongoing technical development. Fast-paced is an understatement.
You and Phyron have already made some impressive inroads into the German market…
We have established successful cooperation with some of Germany’s largest dealers, and with a couple of partner companies providing our services to other dealers and networks.
We and our customers are growing fast, and right now we are investing time and energy to strengthen our local presence and service capabilities.
There’s more to life than business success. What do you do to wind down and enjoy life?
For more than a century our extended Swedish family owns a cottage deep in the forests of western Sweden. Shared with a bunch of relatives, it comes without electricity and other modernity. But it is situated right next to a lake with plenty of perch and other delicious fish. We go there every summer, and the kids love it too.
At home, during the weekends, I tend to play around in my music studio. What’s left of my old career.
So you’ve got a professional music studio at home? To what extent can you make use of that creativity at work?
Well, what´s left is a mac, a mic, a keyboard, and lots of great software. But seriously: Creativity can be so many things. Creative listening and an open mind are essential in any business, not least in marketing and sales. I am also part of Phyron’s Marketing team, channeling all sorts of information from the customer side to the rest of the creative team.