Stage Centrotecnica

company where I did my internship exploration is Centrotecnica.

This is SMEs of 6 employees located south of Barcelona, in Villadecans. This company is operating during more than thirty five years and has become over the years a reference in Spain.

Centrotecnica resells machines to transform plastic blow molding, extrusion, thermoforming and injection. This is a company that imports from France, Germany, Italy, China and the United States for example, but it doesn't export anything.

The Company also provides after-sales service for all the machines it sells in the Spanish territory. To date, the customer service is a significant part of their business. Indeed, they have teams of technicians who travel over the country to install machines, ensure maintenance or intervene in case of failure. To ensure quality service, they have chosen to have a large stock of spare parts in their premises in Villadecans.

The range of machines sold by Centrotecnica is for the plastics market. They sell a range of machines for plastic injection which allows among others to make plastic furniture (boxes, chairs, tables etc ....), a range for extrusion to perform all that is wire, plastic sheath, tube and plastic pellets, a range for blowing to produce plastic bags at the outlet of an extruder. To finish their latest range of machines, thermoforming machines that can change the shape of a plastic plate by softening (cup, sign making).

The company is very attentive to all aspects of standardization. For this it has been certified ISO:9001 and it is also very attentive to respect the environment. this is the reason why, it has developed a business for machines recycling, for helping customers destroy very old machines properly.

My job in the business was to conduct a survey to find new customers.

This proved quite difficult for two reasons; the first because Centrotecnica is already very well established in the Spanish market and the second because the Spanish market is relatively closed and their is businesses a strong foothold. Despite everything, they asked me, for prospecting, to make follow-up mailing, telephone reminders.

Finally, they asked me to make translations of emails from Spanish to French, from Spanish to English and English to Spanish.

While the direct result of my prospecting actions were not very significant in terms of taking orders, it nevertheless served to remind customers of competition that Centrotecnica was a major player in this market. Telephone reminders have shown that the period of two months of my training was too short to achieve the order on this closed market, but that customers could probably come to them in the coming months, following this action.

Spanish people are very friendly, so don’t avoid physical contact. Many nonverbal communication (gestures, kissing), you must have a relaxed approach. They have a preference for contacts face-to-face as opposed to telephone or e-mail for example to build better personal relationships. They don’t flirt with each other but they vous.

Holding the first contact with a large influence on first impressions.

During the interview they remain close, and maintain eye contact. In business relationships, communication is formal and follows

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