Colleague interview with Leif Jepsen
Leif is the Key Account Manager for the Nordic countries. He is 61 years old and has worked for Container Centralen since 1988. He was the 4th employee to start at CC. He joined CC because they were looking for someone who could speak French as well as Danish. Leif has worked for almost all departments within CC, except finance. But since the early days, he has been working with great passion as Key Account Manager for the Nordic countries. Where he is responsible for 6 countries in 4 languages with 4 different currencies. We asked leif about his team, the market and the future.
"I like the international aspects of my job. Whether it’s external visits to customers or internal contacts with international colleagues."
What does your team look like and how is the collaboration within the team going? Who is in your team and why is it nice working with them?
I work in Team Nordic. This team consists of Sales Manager, Marco and Account coordinators Tommy and Ghesal. A great and dedicated team. We’re part of “Marco’s Family”. I really love working with these colleagues and I consider us as a very well functioning team, as backup, sparring partners and good colleagues/friends
How does a normal work week for you look like?
Several of Nordics biggest customers are situated in and around Odense which makes Key Account contact easy. Lots of telephone contacts to Key Accounts, occasional visits to customers – outside Denmark these are mainly situated around Oslo, Stockholm and South Sweden. I’ve daily contact with Ghesal and Tommy on all customer related matters. In peak season availability planning is a key issue. And the coordination with our operations department on depot related subjects.
What do you like the most about working at CC?
The international aspects of my job. Whether it’s external visits to customers or internal contacts with international colleagues.
Your expectation for a future vision of the horticultural sector in Nordic?
Over many years the trend has been “The big get bigger – the small disappear”. When I started in CC more than 350 growers were producing potted plants, today it is around 100. This trend will continue. The same trend goes for the exporters. One very big exporter, our former owner (and founder) GASA Group and a handful of medium sized exporters and wholesalers. One big transporter, Alex Andersen, and few smaller.
