At regular intervals, we would like to introduce you to those people who work every day to make the world a little healthier - our employees. This time we spoke with Cătălin Zlatco Iancovici, our Sales Manager for Eastern Europe. He tells us what motivates him most in his job.
Catalin, nice talking to you - would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?
Where to start? Let’s begin with the fact that I’m a very lucky 44-year-old guy!? Life has blessed me and surrounded me with friendly people and a wonderful family - Oana, my lovely and supporting wife, and two beautiful and restless kids Goran and Diana! I love to spend quality time with them, sharing the same hobbies, the pleasures of life and important moments, but also challenging situations due to generation differences.
That’s so good to hear. How would you describe your professional environment?
In my professional life I am surrounded by caring and experienced people who are specialists in their jobs. I’ve learned a lot from them, and continue to learn, allowing me to become a better person. I have spent over 17 years in the professional hygiene market in a fast changing and challenging region. The last four years of which I have been at GOJO as part of the Prodene GmbH team.
What inspires you most?
Time flies! I have enjoyed doing this job with the same passion and curiosity from the very beginning and I still do. I still feel that there are new things to be learned every day - this is the most exciting part of my job! It makes me proud to share my expertise with my partners, distributors or end users that are interested in the hygiene solutions we provide.
What is your role at GOJO and what are your tasks in your job?
When I started in December 2016, I was a key account manager for Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria. Now I manage the sales and marketing activities in Eastern Europe, working side by side with our partners from the Baltic Sea to the South of Balkans, from Czech Republic to Black Sea. It’s a very diverse cultural and social region! One of my biggest challenges is to transform the European GOJO strategy into a local one. It’s a lot of work, so I’m really glad to welcome my new colleague Marcin Kurek to the team to provide additional support for Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Tell us about your experiences in 2020. How did customers react during the Coronavirus pandemic?
Until 2020 we typically worked on projects with our customers, and were used to face-to-face-meetings to identify the best approaches to win new markets. In 2020 things dramatically changed. Distributors were forced to readapt and respond in totally different ways to the demands of the market in order to survive. Not easy…!
Can you tell us some examples?
Some customers changed their focus to tackle new market segments using different communication tools. We supported our distributors by providing them with the right messages and the right products for the situation. We delivered them with new hygiene solutions to respond to the markets higher demand, for example our new freestanding and easy to install mobile sanitation stations for round bottles and wipes, to place where they are most needed.
Interesting, go on, please!
In partnership with our distributors, we’ve tried to educate the market on what is important when it comes to hand hygiene. Unfortunately some distributors were looking to place products in the market as quickly as possible, without necessarily taking care what the best solutions for their environments were. For example, people focused only on touch-free dispensers as being more hygienic, without realising that this is not the main advantage of these dispensers!
But other distributors decided to focus on solutions that are proven to be effective against COVID-19, rather than quick sales. They used our efficient products and I’m glad to say that their sales appear to be more stable and they confident for the future. In my perception these are the winners for long term!
I’m also happy that the majority of distributors took their social responsibility very seriously at the beginning of the pandemic and helped to provide the first line responders with the hygiene products they urgently needed.
Let's jump into the present. How has your work changed?
Nowadays we have an on-going process to educate the different markets about the importance of hand hygiene by limiting the spread of pathogens, about the right formulation of hand sanitisers and about the importance of effective solutions. Further topics are the perfect placement of dispensing systems and how end users can identify the right product – for example by checking the product labels and efficacy standards they meet.
Would you say that you find your job meaningful? And if so, why?
Absolutely! This job gives me the chance to discover, to learn, to adapt to the new reality, to accept changes and finally to give hope to others. I feel a big satisfaction that I am a part of the GOJO team, helping people and saving lives. I couldn’t be prouder to be part of #TeamGOJO.
What are you looking forward to in 2021?
For 2021 I hope that we can use the lessons learned last year and build a stronger, safer and healthier society with our partners.
