Cover story

Maikel Mali travels around 40,000 kilometres a year in his car. In addition he covers almost the same distance by plane – and he could now write his own travel guide about hotels in his sales area: that is how often the 30-year-old spends the night away. Like Maikel Malki, this applies to the other nine Area Sales Managers from HEROSE: their territory is not just the desk, but also the wide world of customers. They need to be informed, supported – customer loyalty in the best sense – and customers to be newly won. Florian Lude, HEROSE Sales Director: "Despite the ever increasing digital communication and the sales opportunities that the internet offers us, personal contact with our customers and partners remains an important part of our work."

Maikel Malki is responsible for HEROSE customers in Northern Germany, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, the Balkans, Greece and Malta. He is a typical HEROSE "home-grown" employee: As a student in the assembly, then apprenticeship as an industrial clerk, and finally business studies after work. Since 1 January 2018 Malki has been Area Sales Manager, a job that he enjoys. "It is the contact with people that I like", he says: "The challenges of the job, the variety, the good feeling after successful transactions. And I'm just happy when I can help and advise customers."

It is Monday morning, 6.50 a.m., Hamburg Airport. Maikel Malki sits in the Eurowings plane to Vienna. He is targeting various customers in Slovakia. "Actually, our local representative Václav Vlček should be accompanying me, but unfortunately he is ill." The rental car takes around 90 minutes from Vienna Airport to the town of Malacky. There Malki visits a company that has been commissioned by the Slovakian service company Infer to carry out overhauls and inspections of HEROSE safety valves in Linde air separation plants. Malki has brought the necessary tools with him, introduces the HEROSE VALVIO sizing software to the company boss and offers him the opportunity to qualify himself as a certified service partner of HEROSE.