Laurent, could you tell us about your career at Bechtle in a few words?
I arrived in March 2018 and was hired as an e-procurement specialist. I stayed in that position for a little over a year and a half
before I joined the software pre-sales team in 2020 to experience something a little bit different. At the beginning of 2022 I had the opportunity to join the public sector sales team!
So you’ve held three different positions within Bechtle?
Yes! I am someone who likes to learn and see new things all the time, and we are lucky—changing within the teams is quite fluid. By working with others, you learn a lot each time.
What interests me today, and what I was looking for in my job in sales, is the freedom of action with regard to our customers—I take care of them 100% and from A to Z.
That’s just not possible in pre-sales. I did discover a part of it, because even though this job is more technically oriented, there is also a small commercial aspect and so I wanted to go even deeper into that.
How did your last job change come about, exactly?
I went to see Thierry Lacroix, my Pre-sales Team Leader, to talk to him about it—I had seen that there was movement in the public sector and then I went to see Franck Dassé, the Public Sector Team Leader.
The three of us discussed it together. Franck and Thierry were restructuring the teams, and I was allowed to see which public sector team I wanted to join. I also wanted to change position at the end of the calendar year and not part way through—talking to them allowed me to set out the reasons for my choices.
And how are you finding sales?
I’ve been in my element since the 3 January! I enjoy the certain creativity in looking for support for solutions and finding better solutions that the client might not always know about. We play a bit of an investigative role!
I used to work with Jessica Stehle on the pre-sales part of the software business, but now I work with Bruno Ducelier and Erblin Tafa, who help me with their commercial experience (logistics, links with wholesalers/vendors). We get along very well and there is a good atmosphere!
What have you gained from this flexibility?
All 3 positions have given me a 360° view of the company and the industry.
Bechtle really takes profiles like mine into consideration—curious, motivated to learn lots of things. I felt listened to in my desire for change. It is not like that in all companies!
So it really is possible to move around within Bechtle to in order to grow?
Bechtle certainly puts a lot of emphasis on internal mobility. It’s not seen as an inconvenience at all.
I’ve seen so many people evolve and change their positions.
People can move and it’s nice to have this freedom to know that when you have other aspirations, there are no obstacles at company level and that we can put forward other facets of ourselves. It’s a really big plus!