Interview with Dmitry Grishin, Vice President Ruslan International –  on-the-field coach of the sales team.

– Dmitry, what is the main challenge for VDA’s sales force today?

– First of all, having to get used to new working methods. Previously, we were often acting as “gatherers”. Like picking crops in the field. Now we have to switch to the role of “rippers”: what you reap is what you sow, as the saying goes. Doing this, we have to deal with conservative human thinking which forces us to act like “we’ve done well many times before, so why change?”

But now we have to kick old stereotypes to the curb. We need to look at what is beyond the limits of already known, seek new contacts, open up new horizons and learn new working practices. And, first of all, – to start talking to each other. The structure of Sales was such that we were dispersed, working at different markets on our own. Now it makes sense to put our brains together and improve our communication. All the more so, since we serve a market that becomes increasingly global. The demand flows from region to region, and only by joining forces can we develop adjacent trade lanes. United team effort and success of our colleagues in other regions make us, firstly, follow the lead of the best raising the bar of our own achievements and, secondly, learn and adopt those approaches which have worked, apply them in our own work and get us a step closer to our common target.

– Imagine this year is about to end, and you are happy with its results in terms of sales. What would the results be?

– First of all, reached profit level and marginal income targets set to the Charter Sub-group. And, of course, I would like to see success of my colleagues in the scheduled business, since last year we saw much cross-functional effort in promoting  common product line. It can be safely stated that the synergy of the two businesses has worked most effectively this year – we have demonstrated that using this approach we are able to manage our schedule with better quality and to operate charters which, as it turns out, are welcomed and supported by the scheduled business customers.

– What is your suggestion of an ideal sales person who could fulfill this task? What is the “delta” today?

– A sales person who can tackle today’s challenges is, first of all, an excellent “communicator” able to convey the market’s and the customer’s needs to the Group’s internal suppliers and consumers, to ensure that demands of our customers are catered for smoothly, flawlessly and with maximum efficiency. Secondly, this should be a creative person who is in constant search for new trade lanes and hidden markets yet to be discovered.

In today’s transport industry we see a process of intermediaries being squeezed out from  logistic chains, which may be interpreted as optimization of suppliers’ costs. However, the most successful intermediaries who stay in business are those who are able to offer technical and consultancy services which can support the customer in making informed decisions on how to use of air logistics to the best. The fact is that to be willing to spend more money the customer needs to understand for what, and how this will affect the total cost of a project as a whole. Therefore, the sales person needs to be knowledgeable in all areas of our business, from technical and operational side all the way to the financial side. But, at the same time, such person should not be confined by the limits of own internal constraints and constantly create something, initiate generation of new solutions capable of extending our product’s applications. And be able to assess risks and understand ways to mitigate such risks.

– You are a customer of the Corporate University. What needs to be taught today in addition to what is currently requested from the University?

– Learning is a continuing process. Market specifics and trends are such that we have to learn in the workplace continuously. This is also a two-way process: changes in the external environment (disasters, cataclysms or political processes) trigger suppliers’ response, and we offer our products to position ourselves in the market. The geographic scope of the demand for our services is truly global, and working on different queries we always learn new things, even on the routes we have already flown multiple times.

We should learn versatile approaches to building and maintaining relationships and regular communications with customers so that we are a step ahead in understanding and anticipating their demands.

Much is yet to be learned also in terms of internal product knowledge in order to be able to understand the scheduled air services product as well as the charter product and, communicating with the customer, support the customer in making an informed decision in favor of a particular product from the product line offered by the Group.

The art of preparing and conducting presentations is also important. I say “art” because many of us know how dull a presentation can be, but few can make it exciting and memorable. As to the art and techniques of negotiating, it offers endless room for perfecting one’s skills. Even acting skills are relevant – to carry oneself well in front of an unfamiliar audience.

– What makes a global leader? How to become a manager of this kind?

– Global refers only to a market, crisis and alike. A manager is always present at a particular location and leads the team on site.  A manager should have the ability to abstract away from goals set to his or her team and concentrate on how to make the team members able to fulfill those tasks. Talking about sales, it often seems that it would be easier if you do everything yourself, but in that case, assuming responsibility for goals of the whole unit, you would automatically assume personal responsibilities of each individual for achievement of both personal and team performance targets. Team members might recognize such behavior, at a subconscious level at least, and would gladly shift their responsibilities to the manager. Manager’s task will become easier if he or she puts the figures aside and turns to the people. Then the manager will become a “specialist in supporting people”. This is also to be learned.

– What joins the two roles: sales person and sales manager? What is the difference, and what they have in common? How do you combine these roles?

– In my view, any manager possesses qualities of a sales person. Because to get the team truly involved and make them interested  in achievement of a common goal, one should be able to “sell” the idea. At the same time, one should disengage from the result as such and let the team feel responsibility for the result, supporting and guiding them when needed.

But this is in the perfect world. In reality, it is sometimes hard to jump out of the routine and not to yield to the temptation to sell another charter service, or to take up something that is really hard to do and then reassign the task to the team. I fight against the temptation, but often act as an “on-the-field coach” so as not to get rusty.