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Richard Billings - Business Manager EMEA
Life for me has not been too bad. Obviously, I miss the travelling and interaction with customers, but having been home based for many years, I have found that I can still operate and have quality meetings using the meeting platforms available.
Where I have failed miserably however, is trying to home school my kids. My patience and teaching skills have been well and truly tested. This became very apparent when my 6 year old was having to explain to me how to do one of her daily assignments. Apparently, DvLED Technology and Videowall Solutions are not of any interest to children unless it can display Youtube!
Life in lockdown has it’s silver lining though, for productivity and for the environment. We’ve demonstrated that we’re able to adapt to new ways of working and embrace the new norm of video calls and virtual events without having to travel. Of course, there will always be a need for face to face meetings and human interaction. However, we will see changes to our working environments and meeting spaces as a result of this experience. I believe the AV industry will lead these changes, which is why I am so upbeat and optimistic about the future of our industry. Exciting times ahead!
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Mikael Wigart - Nordics Sales Manager
I’m very happy that restrictions have mostly been lifted in the Nordic countries and life is starting to go back to the “new” normal. Since I’m usually travelling across the region to meet with partners and customers, it’s been hard to adjust to the travel restrictions and to have video meetings only. I’m very much looking forward to meeting up with everyone in person again soon!
During the school closing I received the help from two enthusiastic, but not completely helpful, home office assistants. In addition to providing daily entertainment, they also taught me the invaluable skills of sending urgent emails with a yogurt covered keyboard and extracting micro toy parts from the printer to fix a paper jam.
Sticking to set routines and working extra focused to get things done immediately, when the opportunity is given, became the key to success during this period, and I will continue with this going forward.
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Cedric Leoture - Channel Account Manager for France
This crisis was complicated but not insurmountable. the possibility of teleworking, having family by my side and staying in contact with colleagues (màs qué un club) allowed me to move forward on my projects. customers are starting to pick up the pace and it's getting better. can't wait to resume the meetings and review my contacts. See you soon--Cette crise fut compliquée mais pas insurmontable. la possibilité de faire du télétravail, d avoir sa famille à côté et de rester en contact avec les collègues ( mas que un club ) m a permis d avancer sur mes projets. les clients commencent à reprendre le rythme et c est de mieux en mieux. hâte de reprendre les rendez vous et revoir mes contacts. A bientôt
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Chalene Chandrasiri - UK Sales Manager
I’ve been trying to keep a “normal” routine as best I can. Making sure my working space is set up and having a coffee ready to hand first thing each morning.
Normally I would only WFH one day a week and the other days I would be out and about visiting customers, OEM partners, consultants, or at shows & events. So I now spend time morning calling those contacts to have a chat about how they are getting on - it is very important to me to keep up the contact. Next it’s on to emails, admin and internal calls. I do like to have some music on in the background, music always makes me smile and feel good, which really helps with my working day in lockdown.
Evening walks have become a must, if the English weather allows and I’ve seen some lovely things on my walks in the local area that I didn’t know existed! Every day is a learning day 😊
One thing I do love to do is cooking, so doing a lot of it now. I’m always looking for new dinner ideas online, or by speaking to others about what they are making. One thing I didn’t do as much is baking, so while in lockdown I have been able to enhance my baking skills…well I think I have, as I seem to be eating every last bite of everything I’m baking!
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Gwenealle Villette - Director of Sales, France
Well to describe my everyday life since the lock down:
I think it’s important to follow strict rules when working at home but for us in France this is not so much difficult because we are used to work from home. Most importantly, I start early every day with a strong black coffee. The most difficult part of lockdown is that I miss my customers. I am used to work a lot and suddenly I must stay home. Of course I am still in contact with all of them but I am looking forward to visit them again and have a nice lunch together again! The lock down is however a good opportunity to strengthen partnership and elaborate targets for the rest of the year. A different way to work and I try to get the most benefit of it. I also have the strong support of my cats that love to participate to the Webinars with me!!
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Michaela Hirsch - Director of Sales, Germany
The best thing about working
from home?
Nobody looks at you stupidly when you spoon out the Nutella jar.
Nobody looks at you stupidly when you spoon out the Nutella jar.
The worst thing about working
from home?
Nobody looks at you stupidly when you spoon out the Nutella jar.
Nobody looks at you stupidly when you spoon out the Nutella jar.
I am usually on tour at least 3
days a week, I have appointments with OEM partners, distribution partners or
with system integrators. All of these dates are
currently only taking place virtually. This situation is new to me. Until a few
days ago, I didn't even have a suitable headset.
Working from home is not a
massive change for me, because I also do my office works from my home office in
normal times. But, of course I miss the
face-to-face communication with the partners. However, until recently I had
the home office for me alone, now I have to share it. But has the advantage
that I get a great meal every lunchtime.
What is also new for me, every
day now starts with an exactly the same routine (but I start to like it). So, the day starts with a cup
of coffee and a small but healthy breakfast. After a short phone call with my
colleagues, there is time for e-mails, processing project enquiries and talking to partners and
customers. During this time I cannot
listen music or news, I am absolutely focused on tasks. I am definitely not
multi-tasking capable. Nevertheless, I try to take a
short break once an hour, which unfortunately I don't always succeed. But as
soon as I leave the chair, my small, fluffy roommate takes over. Despite the current situation,
I can't complain about boredom. On the contrary, there is a lot more
organizational stuff to do, virtual meetings need time for preparations.
I like to structure my day
according to priorities as much as possible.
1. Coffee and healthy breakfast
2. Project-/ Daily business
3. Prepare for upcoming
conference calls or webinars
4. Organizational issues and
internal communication
What I find positive about this
daily routine is that I concentrate much better on a healthy diet.
One proverb said “Pay attention
to your actions because they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become
your character”
Of course, this new daily
routine will not change my personality, but it supports a healthier lifestyle 😊
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Mike Clayton - Director of Sales, UK
I’ve been working at home in varying degrees for over 20
years now for so the current lockdown has probably had less of an impact on my
working day than others. Ordinarily I’d be visiting customers or OEM partners
at least 3 days a week so many of these meetings are now “virtual”. I don’t
have any children, so the house is perfectly quiet during the day, which is
ideal for the increased Teams and Webex calls that I am now making.
The day starts with a cup of tea and a call round the
UK Pro Team (or via our WhatsApp group) to check everyone is OK and to see what
requests have come in overnight. It never ceases to amaze me that you
can finish work in the evening with a clear inbox and by the morning lots of
new requests for information or product details have come in, from customers
filling in tenders and quotes late into the night.
I have the radio on as background and to keep an ear on the
news, although my daily treat is PopMaster quiz on Radio 2 at 10:30 (mid-teens
score usually!). I keep physically active during the day by regular trips up
and down the stairs for tea or coffee. (has anyone else noticed just how much
tea/coffee you drink when working from home?!)
The enforced lockdown has actually enabled me to spend
longer talking to customers and distribution colleagues than normal, and whilst
not always directly work related, I find it healthy to keep up the contact and
use the time to discover more about peoples interests, and how they’re coping
with working from home.
I’ve also taken to doing some online courses, many of which
are free, so hopefully at the end of this I’ll come out of it a little better
educated, albeit with a caffeine addiction!
Stay safe everyone; I’m off to put the kettle on.
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Justin Joy - Senior Sales Manager for Middle East & India
I like to stick to a morning routine, I don't
necessarily dress up, but I make sure to get into comfortable clothing and one
weird thing I do is put on my formal shoes while working from home! Make sure
to get my coffee and switch on the news early in the morning to start my
day. I follow the below steps to ensure my day is productive;
1. Make a list of emails that
needs to be followed up on
2. Considering the vastness of my
region I make sure to communicate with 1 Key partner, 1 project holder and 1
OEM daily.
3. Take short breaks
4. Make sure to call
customers during high productivity period which is usually from early
afternoon to evening after customers have finished their internal calls, I also
usually save my harder tasks during these time periods.
5. Use music while doing emails.
6. On a personal level, they say
21 days of anything can make a habit. I am working on quitting smoking and
using this time of working from home to kick the bud! Slowly but surely…
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Stefan Krüger - Director of Sales, Austria/Switzerland & Italy
I am doing quite well in the time of isolation, of course I
miss the social contacts very much. And the variety that comes with it.
Well, how do I arrange myself in this time with the present
situation which concerns us all?
I would like to mention a quote:
"If you want to change the world, you have to start by
making your bed," said Navy Seal Admiral William H. McRaven. "You
will have completed the first task of the day," the admiral said.
"You'll feel a little pride, and that will encourage you to tackle another
task, and another, and another."
And this is exactly how I start my day in isolation. I have
my schedule in the morning and always sit in front of my PC at the same time
and start working. What I also find important is that I dress as if I were
going to an appointment. Because we use modern communication including video
conferencing. And since we already have very few social contacts, we should be
aware of them by turning on the camera. Some people don't do that with the
explanation that they are not dressed properly or their hair is not done. I
think that's a pity, because I don't go to my appointments in my pyjamas ;)
And so I work my daily to do's off which I have imposed on
myself. Since we use a modern sales tool it is of course very easy to organize.
If you work in structures. If you keep this self-discipline it should also work
well.
And if something should go wrong or it doesn't work out the
way I imagined it, I got a very nice anger toy from my daughter :)
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