Alusteel - "Now we have a Man in Stuttgart"

Per Helmersen from the sales department at Alusteel explains that they did not have any expectations to the Masterclass programme SBM+ other than learning something new, but that he was surprised as to how much he gained from participating and how fast:

"The first thing you learn in a Masterclass is that this is something that takes a long time. So it was so ingrained in all of us who were part of this course that when I'm contacted quite quickly by someone in Stuttgart I just thought: “Okay, what? This happens once in a million.” Someone on the advisory board could see that what we did could be useful - but of course, that doesn't happen very often either."

Actually, Alusteel was invited to the Masterclass without even knowing what it was. Per Helmersen explains: 

"We have not been dependent on the German market, we haven’t felt the need to expand. But then the opportunity presented itself and we wanted to see if it was anything interesting for us. And it was. It was fantastic."

He mentions how valuable is was to have knowledgeable people from outside the company look at the business model: 

"You got to look at your business yourself, but you also got some help from others looking at it. They came up with some ideas on what you could possibly do and what you should look at if you want to enter the German market. You got some good feedback from people who were invited. We totally rebranded ourselves, which nobody expected a year ago that we would spend a lot of money on. But it works. It really does, and it's one of those things of getting the company ready to do business in Germany. If there's one thing I take away from this, it's looking at the company through different eyes."

For future companies participating in one of The Trade Council’s Masterclasses, Per Helmersen has clear advice:

"You have to go into it with your eyes wide open because there may well be an opportunity lurking where you don't expect it to be. It did for us and I think it can do for others."

Per Helmersen
Sales
Alusteel