21 February, 2023
With more than 16 years of experience in the world of “decorative paper“, our colleague Nadja Schleich, who heads the export division in Europe and Africa, gives us her perspective on the situation, trends (in CPL and finish foil) and customer relations in the coating sector.
Nadja joined Lamidecor when it was a small company. With an ever-growing professional development, Nadja has been opening up markets as the family business has expanded around the world. Always involved in the analysis of consumer wants, trends and lifestyle needs in different regions of the world. Nadja understands and faces with an optimistic vision the challenges of new CPL, finish foil and vinyl solutions and designs, which are yet to come at Lamidecor.
To grow and discover new horizons. Better one step at a time, but always moving forward.
I am grateful to have been part of a family business for many years and to have been trained in a family business, which has shown me a strong potential and always the desire to aspire to more and to look forward to future projects, to have a broad vision and a will. I hope that I can continue to share this journey for many years to come.
Being honest and aware of our possibilities and those of the client and adapting to them. Personalised attention. Having a strategy and a vision for the future. A good pre/post-sales service is essential.
Yes, of course you can do some research on another company or a specific person thanks to social networks but sometimes I prefer to let myself be surprised by the answer they can give me and even if it is an unfruitful answer, you always hang up the phone wishing the other person a good day.
Between seasons of highs and lows, I would finally say that I have reached my sales targets. It is always good to stop from time to time to look at the strategy you are applying and to evaluate and the effort is always rewarded.
Connecting through a “cold call” by throwing myself into the cold water of a completely new terrain. I discovered some very interesting and promising possibilities for the future.
I never thought of myself as a good salesperson. I simply like to have a connection with other people, to be able to help them, to listen to them, to propose ideas and solutions. Accompanying these attitudes with a series of good products, in my view, is the success of a good sale.
After so many years I can say that I have seen “all colours” in this respect. It is true that over the years trends have changed, fashion has changed, technologies have advanced, but I really don’t think that so much has changed in our sector. Gravure printing is becoming more and more detailed, more and more realistic. Impregnation formulas are becoming more and more sustainable and an impregnated or lacquered foil is looking more and more like a natural veneer. The same applies to digital printing with the difference that there should be no limits in design and fantasy. The CPL product has opened up a great horizon in the market and continues to do so. For Lamidecor this product is a great achievement and I hope that we can expand our horizons with this product.
It is a very competitive and tough market. It is a challenge to maintain or even improve our position. The key lies in specialisation and in betting and fighting for it. Better a small but strong range than a wide and confusing range.
Sustainability and recycling.
Focus and strategy. Attention, closeness and understanding towards the customer.