SWIMMINGPOOL INTERNATIONAL
The podcast from pool experts for everyone
SWIMMINGPOOL INTERNATIONAL
#0: SWIMMINGPOOL INTERNATIONAL - The podcast from pool experts for everyone
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Swimming Pool International, the Swimming Pool Podcast.
SPEAKER_03A warm welcome to you at the first international swimming pool podcast.
SPEAKER_02In front of me sits Angela, Angela Hermann, International Sales Manager at Banke near Munich in Germany.
SPEAKER_03And in front of me sits Michael, Michael Fissor, export manager at Fluvor Schmalenberger from Tübingen in Germany. Hi, Michael.
SPEAKER_02Hi Angela, how are you?
SPEAKER_03I'm pretty well. It's our first broadcast. I'm pretty excited to be honest.
SPEAKER_02Yes, me too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I have actually my first question. Can you tell me something about yourself?
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. Well, I have to be a bit short, but uh I'm from Holland, uh, born in Amsterdam, and uh I've been in pumps my whole life. Traveling export is my is my passion. And how about you, Angela? Can you tell me a little bit more about your yourself?
SPEAKER_03Yes, I'm Angela Herman, and um I decided with 16 already that I want to live somewhere else, and this is what I did until today. And yeah, I love to be outside, I love international people, and I guess that's why I'm an international sales manager uh for Binke. And uh yeah, I'm traveling a lot. Uh we sell swimming pool equipment, and yeah, it's kind of like my world.
SPEAKER_02Okay, great stuff.
SPEAKER_03Michael, tell me something about what do you do?
SPEAKER_02Um, I'm an uh export manager uh for uh Flufo Schmalenberger, and we sell products related to industrial applications as well as uh swimming pools, and uh I'm responsible for all German-speaking uh English-speaking countries, and from uh mostly distributors and dealers, and I give education, trainings, and uh make them sell more. Yeah, and how about yourself? What what do you do?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I as I kind of mentioned I am responsible for the international sales for Bienke, it's a company which sells swimming pool equipment all over the world, and our specialty is um we have heat exchangers, uh yeah, we are manufacturing everything in Germany, right? And uh yeah, and this is what I try to sell outside of Germany.
SPEAKER_02Okay, very, very interesting.
SPEAKER_03Michael, um, you once told me you are a pump man. So, what does is so fascinating about pumps?
SPEAKER_02Well, pumps is something that you that you really uh grow into. Uh, I didn't have a pump background at all, but uh after one of my trips uh or my living uh uh abroad in Taiwan, I came back in in uh Europe, and uh there was a company who asked for a pump man or a uh a person interested in pumps who had experience in Asia, and that's how I started my uh pump career. And once you're into pumps, you are totally addicted. You will never get out. It's sort of like uh almost like a drug. So uh I consider myself since 1987 a pump man.
SPEAKER_03Okay, you have to tell me more about this.
SPEAKER_02Uh well, and pumps is for me, you know, moving fluid from point A to point B and everything in between, and it can be for all kinds of applications, swimming pools, but also industry where you have pumping emulsion with chips from A to B, and the whole idea from from uh moving uh fluids from A to B fascinates me.
SPEAKER_03I kind of get the idea.
SPEAKER_02Bank is a wholesaler and a producer, and that always sort of um yeah fascinated me as well. Um can you uh explain a bit more how this works in various markets, being a producer as well as a wholesaler.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh so we are manufacturer, we manufacture uh in two places in Germany. We have one in the center of Germany where we produce filters, and then we have another production near Munich where we do stainless steel. These are our own products, really. You know, everything was made of these things, and a lot of times, in depending on the market, people ask for our own products, but nevertheless, we have a system which is called Aquavision where we sell the whole system, what you really need to operate a pool. So people would ask, they say, okay, you start with a filter for our own production, and I say, But Angela, do you have more? And then I say, Of course, we have also measuring, dozing system, swimming pool control, which we make by the way, as well. So, and then I sell the whole everything what is needed to operate the pool. So it's kind of like um it develops, you know. Sometimes we what we also do, we do projects. So they give the plan from the pool, and then we design everything, all the parts they would need for the pool. And is in this way I sell already everything right as a producer, as a wholesaler, right? The whole thing together.
SPEAKER_02Understood. Very, very interesting.
SPEAKER_03So, what are your main markets?
SPEAKER_02Well, traditionally, uh, our main markets would be Northern Europe. Uh, since we are a manufacturer of um high-end uh products, uh, water features uh related to massage and wellness, and the northern European market traditionally was always let's say the the innovators. So Scandinavia, German-speaking countries, Benelux and uh Great Britain are our main markets. We try to expand in other areas, but uh, when you talk about main markets, these are the ones. What makes your product portfolio so different than others? And I mean wholesalers in particular. And where do you consider your main markets are? It's like two questions in one.
SPEAKER_03Well, start with the last one. Uh, our main markets naturally is Germany and uh nine neighbors we have, not all the surrounding neighbors, but nevertheless, we have markets also in southern Europe, you know, in some islands. Um, and we also expand. We have uh customers from Georgia, from Azerbaijan, uh in Dubai. So at the end, we we we can work worldwide.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_03And the side the the first question, yes, what makes us so different is I'm not talking about quality. It's like you talk about an expensive car, it's sure you have good quality, no? So this is something, this is what we live, right? But uh we have a lot of engineering knowledge since so so many years. The company was founded in 1945. So um we yeah, we build it up over the years so many experience, and the products are made in detail. It's like I love jewelry, so it's like if you unwrap our skimmer, for example, you already think, wow, this is something precious, what we do. And we have short transportation ways, we have easy communication, we have service guys who travel around, and we do customized products. So if you say for my pool I want something super special, we can do it. And that makes us different.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_03How about Fluvor Schmalenberger?
SPEAKER_02Well, uh we uh when it comes to wellness and water features, we are a one-shop supplier. We have everything from massage nozzles to water curtains to countercurrents. Uh, we make lazy rivers uh custom-built, uh, and we do uh different materials, we supply the components in ABS uh or in stainless steel, carbon fiber, uh, and of course, for specific projects, we make custom-built products as well. So very, very uh wide, a broad uh product range when it comes to wellness and water features.
SPEAKER_03I see. And now comes my last question, or almost at the end. What do you love so much about your job?
SPEAKER_02Well, my whole life I have loved to meet different cultures, and uh different cultures means traveling. And what I love so much about this job, first of all, I love the pool world, and secondly, I love to meet all these different cultures around the world. Each of these cultures have different interesting stories, and it just makes the job so fantastic. And how about you? What do you love about your job?
SPEAKER_03I it's the same, that's why we have this job, I guess. I love cultures, and and I actually I thought about this morning, and sometimes are these little stories, you know. Like the other day I was in Serbia and I was sitting in the taxi driver, and I'm thinking I almost die because he was driving so fast. But at the end, we sang songs together, the taxi driver and me. And I think, oh, now is these moments, you know, where I think this is what I love, really. Besides, I have to say, and now we say, yeah, okay, she's talking about the company. But I do also love to travel to Banke because I don't live in Germany, and every time I go to the company and I leave the company, I'm thinking, wow, this was like so good. We have such a good environment in the company as well. I love being with these people, and I love the spirit there. And all these little stories about work with customers, about these little stories on the sideways. This is all the package. This is what I really deeply enjoy.
SPEAKER_02Dear listeners, you are probably wondering why are we doing this podcast? What do you think, Angela? Why are we doing it?
SPEAKER_03That's a very good question. And I actually was born because there is a German for German-speaking uh customers and customers who want to build a dream pool. And yeah, uh Markus and Dietmar, who are our bosses, have a podcast which uh was very successful uh in the German-speaking um regions. And then we thought, yeah, why don't we do it more internationally? And we want to inform. We want to inform what are the news, uh product news, we want to talk with customers, we want to go to fairs, we want to talk maybe to associations and see what is going on in the market, and yeah, make uh make it more internationally because we have pools all over the world, as we mentioned before. And yeah, make it fun, make it interesting, and have something you want to listen to.
SPEAKER_02Increase the awareness of what's going on in the market. Very, very interesting.
SPEAKER_03Michael, I'm so excited um to have more of episodes of our new podcast. And I'm really looking forward to go to these nice places, to meet customers, to yeah, have a good time, to learn something, because we also want to, every time we want to say really what we have learned. And I know I have learned that pumps are interesting and addictive, yes. And addictive, exactly. Who would ever thought this, right?
SPEAKER_02And yes, and I'm looking very, very much uh very for uh looking forward to the uh next uh podcast, which we will do in the Pigin in Lyon in November 2022.
SPEAKER_03Michael, we totally forgot something.
SPEAKER_02Oh yes, you're right, Angela. First of all, thank you very much, and we hope you will be listening to us more, and you can of course subscribe to our content, which is published at Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, all the social media channels where you can reach podcasts, and of course we have a website www swimmingpool minors podcast.com thank you, merci gracias.
SPEAKER_02Bye bye. Bye bye.com. This episode of the Swimming Pool International Podcast is supported by our media partner Eurospa Pool News, the international media of pool and spa industry. Thank you very much for your support.