"I'll Be a Sales Rep until I Retire...or Die" Interview with Maurici Perramon, Responsible of Indirect Markets

Maurici Perramon is responsible for indirect markets: he manages all commercial activity related to international distributors that are not our subsidiaries. This department also includes four other people: Marta, Pierre, Germán and Julien.

What is the most interesting part of your job for you?
For me, the most interesting thing is seeing how far our product can go. That, and discovering the differences between each market… the way we distribute in Europe has nothing to do with how the product reaches Korea, for example. How the market works there, how the product has to be introduced, how laws affect it… each market is a completely different world.

It sounds like a way of getting to know the world on a deeper level…
Exactly! The level of “geekiness” gets so high that when you travel on your own as a tourist, you end up visiting points of sale just to see what you find…

And in that sense… anything curious you’ve seen that you never would have imagined?
One of the most surprising things I’ve encountered was in Taiwan. I thought it was a country with very low prices, but they import very high-quality materials. The contrast between infrastructure and what they sell is striking: sometimes you find rather rundown-looking shops that carry top brands and first-class products that people actually consume.

Traveling is clearly important in your job, but how do you balance it with your personal life?
I travel every 15 days. Sometimes it’s two-night trips, sometimes a full week. Usually two trips a month. In my personal life, it’s fine… when you have a family you always have to make an effort to fit it in with your partner’s priorities, but they handle it well. I was already working as a sales rep before joining MTN and it’s part of my job, and it’s what I’ll do until I retire… or die.

Before joining MTN, how did you see your professional life evolving?
I worked in the meat industry exporting pork to Eastern Europe. The aerosol industry is much more interesting…

The meat industry can be very interesting from a gastronomic point of view…
Yes, but one thing is eating it and another is the industry behind it… I don’t know if anyone has ever smelled what it’s like when they scorch a pig to remove the hair… or what a slaughterhouse is like.
Besides that, it’s a much more mechanical job, with purely B2B relationships. That’s also the case at MTN, but here the market is far more interesting.

My job is B2B because there is always an intermediary, but the first thing we analyze is retail. That applies to DIY, because in graffiti the market is even smaller.

DIY VS GRAFFITI
DIY is a field full of opportunities to offer something new, different and revolutionary, while at the same time helping us finance our core business: graffiti.

Can you summarize your career path at MTN?
I joined as a Key Account, the position Oriol currently holds. Together with Olga, we started laying the foundations to enter large retail chains, but I didn’t fully enjoy the role and I was offered a position in the national sales team with Marc Dalmases. It was a brutal experience. In four or five years I learned an incredible amount, thanks in part to Albert Pons and Ferran Manalbens, who introduced me to the aerosol world: if you’re not a graffiti writer, it’s not that easy.

Being a sales rep can’t be an easy job either…
The traditional image of the smooth-talking sales rep is declining. You have to be technical, know how to offer solutions, and know how to advise both technically and financially. Obviously, if you’re very introverted, everything becomes more complicated; to enjoy this job, you have to like people.

I read recently that people are disposable, but so are companies. What do you think?
I’ve been at MTN for many years, I’ve built my own path and I’ve been lucky to work with people who trusted me, like Marc, Martí and Olga… and I value that greatly. Every person contributes immeasurable value, not only through their work but also through their vision and perspective. But brands are also something that goes beyond economic and staffing issues… they are an image, a story, a personality, a way of seeing the world. And wherever the factory or the people may be, MTN will move forward — believe me.