Selling power tools – Say whaaaat?

Having never sold anything in my life – not even lemonade on the street – I was somewhat anxious about starting my sales career selling power tools in the North of England. On top of that I had to relocate to a new city, learn how to drive on the left side of the road and quickly cipher the somewhat thick accent of the Northerners.

I felt like I had jumped to the deep end of the pool to see whether I’d float or sink with a splash.

But very quickly I learned that Hilti is a company full of support and supportive people ready to help you with whatever and whenever. During my year-long sales rotation I had amazing team mates and a fantastic line manager that helped me to get grips with the role quickly. Also, the 3-week basic training, that everybody in Hilti goes through, covered everything from company culture and sales skills to hands-on product training and team building. So even though I had started a new job, in a new city and in a totally unfamiliar industry – I very quickly started to feel that the pool isn’t that deep after all.

All the difficulties, challenges and successes I had during the sales rotation, made jumping into my first project much easier. Although I once again moved to a new city, country and job role, I felt much more comfortable taking on the challenge as I had the experience of direct sales behind me and no matter what kind of challenge I would be faced with – I would overcome it.

Currently I’m at Hilti HQ in Liechtenstein working on our corporate strategy review. During the project in the Corporate development team I’ve had the chance to work with brilliant and highly experienced people. I’ve also had the chance to interact with executive board members and top management on a regular basis. The project has given me an amazing window to see everything that is to do with Hilti and understand better the strategy that drives Hilti forward – Champion 2020.

I have only a few weeks left here in Schaan and then I’ll pack my bags and head back to the UK for a couple of months for a project in HR and after that finish 2017 and the Outperformer program in Hong Kong.

Is that shark fin soup for me?

This is my first time in Asia and it has been a fantastic experience from day one.

Hong Kong is a city with a population of over 7 million people – and sometimes it feels that they all have decided the be in the same underground carriage on my way to work. People, noices, smells and general chaos are in your 24/7 – and I absolutely love it. Very different to the villages of Liechtenstein from the start of this year.

I’ ve also had the privelage of trying all sorts of weird and wonderful varieties of food – as one does in Asia. Hong Kong has the highest density of restaurants in the world, so you can basically find any food you can imagine here. Perhaps the weirdest was shark fin soup. I was expecting to see part of Don Lino’s (from the movie Shark Tale if that reference didn’t open up) fin in the bowl, but the shape and texture resembled more of a vegetable.

I was a little worried about not speaking Cantonese before arriving here, but I haven’t had any trouble communicating with English, my hands and a smile when you realise that you don’t undestand a word the other person is saying. It’s more fun to avoid the tourist spots and restaurants, and eat at the local places in my neighbourhood even if I cannot understand the menu or the waiter.

I’m so glad that Hilti gave me this opportunity to come to Hong Kong as it has been a wonderful experience so far.
Even if it’s just for 3 months – I plan to enjoy every day to the full!