Regional Sales Manager

My name is Ineke David. I am 37 years old and I am from Belgium. I started working for the Michelin group in 2012 as an account manager for truck tires. I held multiple sales positions for Michelin in the Benelux. After, I was offered a position as regional sales manager in Paris.

In my current role, I am managing a young team of 11 account managers with an average age of 27 years old, who are responsible for different business lines like truck tires, passenger cars and two wheels.

The specificity is that you don't see your team members every day in the office, so you manage them from a distance. We have a weekly team meeting and multiple calls every week to assure that business is running smoothly. You're obligated to have a lot of confidence in your team members. I accompany them once every month to see how they are interacting with their customers. The daily interaction I have with them allows me to be confident in their performances. Next to that, I think it's important to develop their competencies to continue their further career.

Sales is really an evidence for me because it allows me to see my added value for the group and my customers immediately. For me, selling technical products like tires has never been a problem, but I need to believe in the products and the services I am selling.

Currently, I'm switching positions and I've accepted a new role as sales director B2B key accounts France, and this gives us the opportunity to move to Clermont Ferrand. I love the fact that within Michelin I can grow as a person by doing various jobs in various departments. When people ask me what I would like to do within 10 years, my answer is country manager for Michelin.