The «ISM» From Jens’s Point of View

Every year in September, the International Sales Meeting (ISM) takes place at KELLER headquarters. KELLER employees from all over the world travel to Winterthur to exchange information about the latest developments and projects and to cultivate interpersonal relationships. Our new field sales colleague from Team Germany tells us how he experienced his first International Sales Meeting.

Hello, my name is Jens Riesner and I am one of the newcomers. I was asked if I would like to describe my personal impressions and experiences of the ISM in a blog. No sooner said than done. 
 

The start of the ISM
It started on Wednesday – the first big meeting with KELLER colleagues from all over the world. I was curious to see what people I would meet. In the meeting room I found a circle of chairs, which I had never seen before. The atmosphere was relaxed, many of my new colleagues already knew each other and had a lot to talk about. People kept coming up to me and welcoming me to the team. So many new faces, so many new names!

Tobias and Mike Keller started with a summary of the past year. They talked about the good work of the financial year and presented their view on the next year. After summaries of the last ISM and the presentation of the new building Diamant, more interesting presentations followed.

Until noon, the representations presented their current business year and their outlook for 2024. It was interesting to hear how the markets work in the different countries and which circumstances seem to be the same everywhere. 

After our lunch, it was the next round with the individual KELLER subsidiaries. Then it was my turn to give my presentation for Germany. My speaking time was limited to five minutes. That was far too short for my prepared speech. It was not easy to get to the point.

This was followed by presentations of individual applications and examples of successfully implemented integrations of KELLER products at our customers. 

The late afternoon was continued at the Dampfzentrum Winterthur. Here we were given an impressive view of the economic history of the city with steam engines and heavy engineering. At dinner in the Boilerroom there was then the opportunity to engage in personal conversations and allow the day come to an end.

The ISM takes its course
Thursday morning continued with information from the production, marketing and development departments. Solutions for various challenges in production and new products from research and development were presented. In addition to the further development of IT, Marketing showed the possibilities of LinkedIn in an exciting presentation. Afterwards, visitors were able to dive deeper into the individual topics at various information stands. I would have liked to have had a little more time to deal with this.

Inspired by the impressions, we went back to the lunch table, where the conversations continued in a small setting over lunch. 

The afternoon was dedicated to sales projects and how they are handled by the CSST (Customer Solutions Support Team) and R&D. In presentations and individual group work, the participants were given the opportunity to talk about their own projects. In presentations and individual group work, we explored how the processes of handling customer enquiries in projects could be optimised. After stimulating discussions, the task was to summarise the many ideas of the individual participants.

At the end of the second day there was a feedback round. Again, a circle of chairs, again this relaxed atmosphere. It was interesting to hear how individual colleagues saw the Sales Meeting and took in the various impressions. 

The crowning finale
Friday was designated to factory tours. In separate groups, the production stages of the various components were visited. It was interesting to see how many steps have to be carried out in order to obtain a KELLER product in the end.

As a crowning finale of ISM 2023, our theme party «Pirates and Caribbeans» took place in the evening. It was a magnificent event with all employees in different costumes with plenty of drinks, delicious food, lots of music and a lot of fun. 

During the days in Winterthur, people kept talking about the «KELLER family». After all the impressions I have gained since my first interview in Winterthur in April, I can only agree with this opinion – I now belong to the «KELLER family».