FlexQube Employee Portrait: Andy

Hi Andy, describe your FlexQube journey!

I have been here for five years now; time flies! I was looking for a new job when FlexQube recruited me. I came from a big cooperation, so the flexibility within a smaller company attracted me.

I started as a Sales Manager, and I’m still working as Sales Manager for the US Midwest and Canada. My job is to sell our products. I’m responsible for planning and executing my sales plan in my region, and I cooperate with my global colleagues daily. I think my strength is that I know how to sell myself and build relationships. I often get feedback that my availability is appreciated. I always answer or call back immediately.

After a few months in my employment, I was the only FlexQube employee in the US. I was all over the place; I think I visited over 20 states during my first year. I had great support from my colleagues in Sweden, and we did some visits together as well. I grew up selling steel, but I never saw the whole product, but with FlexQube, I got to see all the steps in the production. It’s great. I remember one of the first million dollars orders that we got. Me and Anders (CEO) drove all night to a customer. We did the meeting, and a week later, we had the order. I’m so excited about how the next five upcoming years will look for me at FlexQube!

Is there something you wished you knew before you started?

I wish I knew more about the lean practices (like kaizen and Six Sigma) before I started. It would have helped me to easier to talk to engineers at the beginning of my FlexQube journey. So, I took a course later, which helped me understand better and “talk the talk”.

Have you surprised yourself during your journey at FlexQube?

Definitely! When I was new, we had a customer in Michigan that had a cart that needed to be fixed. Since I was new, I hadn’t seen the cart before, but I managed it. Learning on the fly! Earlier this year, I also had my first eQart demonstration (eQart was launched at the end of 2019). It’s trial and error all the time, but nothing is in my way. I have a great impact on my own learning.

Have you learned something new?

Yeah, I’m learning every day; FlexQube is a fast-paced company. I’m not afraid of asking questions to my colleagues either if I don’t have the answer to a customer, they like that. The most valuable thing I have learned is that I have got the chance to see so many different solutions in different environments. When I visit a new customer, I have the ability to show them during the meeting a couple of solutions I think would work for them on my phone. I also enjoy every time I can do visits with another colleague and learn from them. Anders and I have had a great time during the years visiting numerous customers together.

How would you describe the culture we have today?

I love it! I have experience from big cooperation’s culture where the company’s managers didn’t even look at you. It’s the opposite here, we have a family-feeling kind of culture, and we share both work and family stuff all the time. I have some contact with former colleagues that have left the company, and they often say it was a mistake. I think anybody would be happy to work for FlexQube. We know that we have a great product, and we are all working together to get the solutions out there!

What is typical for FlexQube?

To invite all new colleagues to visit HQ in Sweden. I had a great week there, bonding with colleagues and getting to know the company. Feels awesome just to be around everybody. It really strengthens me when I think about that, like knocking you back in place! It’s easy to reach out to the big dogs at any time and just talk. That’s important for me to feel connected to the FlexQube family when I’m working from home or travel.

If you would compare our culture to a celebrity, who would you pick?

Have you seen the movie Tommy Boy? I would pick Chris Farley (famous comedian) and his character in that movie. He succeeds with a great sale that saves the company and its employees after his father died. He just went for it, and a lot of funny things happened during the way. It reminds me of the FlexQube culture; we can be funny and joke, but we know when to be professional. I still use a line from that movie “I could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves!”.

What do you know about another country’s culture that you didn’t know before?

I like the Swedish “fika”! I also think Swedes are a lot nicer than us. There have been some food culture shocks when I visited Sweden and when Swedes come here though. I’m a meat and potato guy. I joined a boat trip with cold sea fish in Sweden. Not my thing. I took my American colleague to Burger King instead, so we felt at home. When Anders was here, I took him to Chick-Fill-A. He ordered a salad. I mean, come on, eat American!

I learned that the German’s take a long time to make decisions. And I think they like to take long breaks also. I feel like the Swedish culture is like my wife – calming. My manager is Swedish, and he calms me when I need it. He gets me, we can have open-minded discussions, and he takes good care of me. Like Sweden do when I visit there.

My choice of song to describe the culture we have at FlexQube is “Started from the bottom” with Drake.