THE SALES REP

“The human touch is important to me – and so is communication, particularly in an era when online business and digitalization are really taking off. Yes, it’s true that I’m glad when customers place their routine orders online. But only because it then means that I can set aside more time to answer the more specific questions that my individual customers have. A good personal relationship is the foundation for my work in the sales force. That requires a certain degree of personal chemistry, reliability and honesty. I have a solid base comprised of customers who genuinely trust me, because they know that I don’t want to just do business come hell or high water when it doesn’t make sense. That’s really important to me.”

THE CUSTOMER

“It makes a huge difference to me whether I order everything online or have a personal advisor to assist me. I’m glad that I have a dedicated advisor who I can ask all of my questions. Some of them are complicated and I can’t find the exact answers I need online. In addition to our personal appointments, we use all channels to communicate. I’ve got his cellphone number, I can ask him questions, and sometimes I even send photos—that’s a really handy option. It’s important for me to know that he will only sell me things that actually make sense. He once told me: ‘Hold off a bit with your order, because we’re going to launch a special offer soon and you’ll get a discount.’ That was a nice touch – the sort of thing that builds trust.”

Every day, Würth has 34,000 sales reps working across the globe, providing personal service to a total of 3.7 million customers.