Joe Austin is our North America Director of Sales, he has worked at Biospringer since 2018. In this period, he has learned a lot from his experience with us. He agreed to answer a few questions about his work at Biospringer.
Good afternoon Joe! Thank you for answering our questions. First, could you tell us about your background?
“Sure, so I have been in the food industry since my 16th birthday, all the way up to now. In high school and college, I worked in the restaurant industry in all functions. I started as a busboy, dishwasher, waiter, cook… anything you can do in a restaurant! Most of my background is in the food service in the food industry. I’ve been a food service broker, then a sales team manager and insight sales director. I had several roles before I came to Biospringer in 2018.”
How did you come to work for Biospringer?
“At first, I was not sure it would fit as an ingredient of this nature is quite different from what I had done before! At Biospringer, it is very much scientifically-based and with a different customer set. That was a new learning for me. Biospringer was seeking for someone who could manage, organize, optimize and lead a team. For the other abilities, it was learnable as we progress. I am very glad I ended up accepting, to come on board as the Director of Sales for North America!”
What surprised you the most when you arrived at Biospringer?
“It is the level of trust and the acceptance of my recommendation of expanding our sales force, optimizing the people in the field and making sure that the right people are in the right place. What I found in Biospringer is a privately held company not under the same stockholder pressures and expectations. We are still short term focused, but we are engaged in more long-term vision conversations. This is highly refreshing!”
What are your day-to-day duties?
“I hate to be cliché but every day is different and funny enough. The way that I run my daily record is actually number the days: today is my 802 day with Biospringer. I do that because I want to qualify each day in some way as a unique day. The common thing from a day-to-day stand point is seeking out what is priority one: what is one thing that I can do today that will make a difference? If I have done that 802 times, that’s pretty good. The other is of course the pipeline management, starting the year with a budget that was set and making sure that the team is working towards it”.
Would you have an advice for our teams?
“I would say: never backdown from a new challenge. Once you get to a feeling that you have reach a level of expertise in your role, that is no time to settle. That is actually time to go further and go for new challenges. My mother used to say: “Crackers in bed”. In other words, never allow yourself to become too comfortable in what you are doing. No matter one’s age, no matter one’s experience, you must always be reaching for new knowledge, new expertise.”
Complete my sentence, I am the best in…
“I don’t know that I am THE best if compared to others, but I would say I am MY best in bringing order to chaotic situations, simplifying, clarifying and be cluttering what may be unclear. Removing the clutter, the noise to the best of my ability to help my team focus and succeed.”
Could you describe Biospringer in three words?
Optimism
“We are always optimistic, we believe in our abilities, we believe in our skill set to accomplish our many goals. Also, we believe in our team and we trust in each other’s abilities to work as a team to accomplish what we’re accountable to.
Aggressiveness
My next word would be aggressive, as the opposite of passive. We are constantly looking to gain pro-actively.
Engagement
We are not afraid to engage, regardless the size. I think one of my colleague made a very insightful point at a recent meeting when she said that within our own organization, “we are each other customers. Treat and serve your counterparts as you would your customers.” And that made me think: how have I been good at that historically? Have I treated my colleagues with that level of service and respect? And up until that point, I would say I’ve tried. Ever since, I try to live up to that engagement.”
Would you recommend working for Biospringer?
“Emphatically yes, for all the reasons I have told you: the culture, the values of the company, the genuine character that the organization shows in its people. In publicly held companies, it is performances and results first. In Biospringer, it’s safety first, that means that it is people first, that has profound value to me.”
Anything more you would like to say?
“In Biospringer, we are fortunate to be within an organization who the product is in demand and is working to meet what is the most volatile year of consumer demand of this century. We are fortunate to be within an organization that is adapting, but unselfishly we should use those blessings to be of help to others who are not so fortunate, like restaurants. It is the single largest employer in the USA and now it is sick, so we need to support them and keep them in business.”