In order to replace Karine Mathy, who left for a few months to expand her family, Frédéric Thuillier has taken over the responsibility of the field managers. He agreed to answer our questions...
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Can you introduce yourself?
I am 40 years old and I have been working for SIG for almost 6 years.
My career path is rather atypical. After a BTS in Management and Marketing in the hotel industry and a few years in this field, I wanted to move towards a more lucrative commercial job. I then joined a software, computer book and photo/creative paper publishing company where I worked for 10 years as Area Manager, Sales Manager and then Key Account Manager.
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What is your career path at SIG?
I am arrived at SIG in May 2011 in Sales force as Sales Manager for a client distributing coconut water, then for a company specialising in the manufacture and marketing of cleaning and hygiene products with whom we worked for two years.
For this client, SIG trusted me and entrusted me with customer relations for the second year of collaboration. After that, I kept this interface role in collaboration with Sophie Bayle, Frédérique Ammeloot and Jean-Michel Alavoine for several clients.
Today, the company is renewing its confidence by giving me the responsibility of the Field Managers Animation.
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How do you see your collaboration with the Field Managers ?
As with my previous teams, I see my relationship as being very close and trusting. But the main difference is that I have a experienced team and which masters his trade perfectly. The division Animation is an entity I don't know, the managers will enrich me with their knowledge and experience.
For my part, I will be able to bring them my experience from my varied background both within the company and in other experiences. To do this, I'm going to organise myself to be in the field with them as often as possible and organise weekly conference calls.
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Is this a new challenge?
I accepted this position because it is a new challenge for me, both in terms of the division and the business, which I do not know, but also from a managerial point of view insofar as I have never managed an experienced, autonomous team with so much seniority in a company.
You don't manage a 'junior' team in the same way as an experienced team that has been in place for 15 or 20 years. This last point is not easy because I arrive with a lot of new ideas, some of which radically change habits and ways of working. I am aware that this requires a great deal of adaptability from everyone.
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What qualities and skills do you think you need for this job?
For this position, listening skills, making sense of it, anticipate, be rigorous and be organised are important qualities. There is a lot of information to manage and managers need to be able to rely on me to support them when they need it.
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What are your goals for 2017?
My goals for 2017 are multiple =
- Taking over the various projects Karine: I'm not here to revolutionise everything, it's important to keep a guideline. For example, I have finalised the project that will allow each manager to record their field checks in real time and above all to be able to analyse the data better.
- Standardize / optimize work processes The beginning of the year is the ideal time to test things out before the rush of beauty operations. In 2017, the team will be made up of 6 managers instead of 7 in previous years. It is therefore necessary to anticipate and think about the optimal way to absorb the volumes to come in the best conditions.
- Developing our business relationships We advocate quality work with our partners, and we make every effort to keep this promise. The fact that we regularly contact our Area Manager and Regional Director is an important step in gathering information and constantly improving the quality of our services with a high level of responsiveness. We should not exchange with a partner only when there is a problem.
Thank you Fred for all these details, we wish you good luck with this new challenge.
