"If something goes wrong, we are the ones on the front line". Interview with Marc Dalmases, sales director for Spain and Portugal.

Throughout the Iberian Peninsula it is difficult to find someone who sells spray paint who does not know Marc Dalmases. Today it is our turn to interview him and, against all odds, his testimony teaches us and makes us laugh like very few others. In addition to explaining to us a little better the usefulness of the sales department, he will also tell us some funny anecdotes, like the one about Mr. Lion...

Tell us briefly about your history at Montana.

My name is Marc Dalmases, I joined Montana in 2000. For 4 years I was working in the warehouse during the summers, just for a couple of months to make money and go out partying. From 2004, Jordi Rubio proposed a development in my job to me. I moved from the warehouse to the offices to work on the phones.

It was as of 2008 or 2009 approximately, when Olga returned and we started to form the sales department in order to visit Montana's customer portfolio.

My mentors were Jordi Rubio and Albert Guarch.

I can say that I was the first sales representative that existed at Montana as we know it today.

The subject of sales department is very broad, since they work all over the world, but could you explain the differences in development between Montana's sales representatives and your team in particular?

In the Spain and Portugal team we have 10 sales representatives, plus a key account department. Each of the 10 sales representatives live in their area of influence, all of them are hard workers and very committed.

What is a key account department?

It is the department that handles strategic accounts. They can be strategic because of their turnover, such as large supermarkets, or they can be strategic because of the image they provide to the brand and require slightly different treatment.

Apart from key accounts, are there other types of customers?

When I started this stage of sales, practically all our customers were graffiti stores, but because of the brutal crisis of 2007-2008 all these stores that were made with great enthusiasm but without good business foundations began to close. We had to look for a solution. That's when we started to get into paint stores. Today, the main sales channel are paint stores. This does not detract from the fact that we are becoming increasingly important in hardware and construction stores, not forgetting some clothing stores or other products.

What role does graffiti play within the sales team? 

Half of the sales team are users of our graffiti spray cans, and the other half, even if they don't paint, have a special awareness of the creative universe. So, even if they are not daily users of our products, they are attracted to this world.

Logically, when the person who sells it is a product user, they have a much easier time and understand the language of graffiti better. It is also true that there is no sales representative who is over 45 years old, which means that, being young, the relationship you can have with the world of graffiti is more open than if you were older.

And how does this affect the equipment’s performance?

Logically, if someone paints graffiti, they are closer to a certain type of customer. But nowadays, as we sell to many types of customers, if someone doesn't visit a customer because they don't have too much affinity with them, they have partners who can help them and channels to learn. But let's not forget that, although we sell quite a bit, well, a lot, to graffiti stores, the main channel we have in Spain are paint stores. And although the final customer is a writer, the spokesperson is not.

By the way... Who is Mr. Lion?

I used to be a bit of a joker, although I have calmed down a lot. Logically when you make a lot of jokes it’s very likely that you’ll end up getting a taste of your own medicine, and that is exactly what happened.

Back in 2012 we were looking like crazy for a store in Badalona and I received a call from Estefania. She told me that a guy had called the office who had six stores in Badalona and was urgently waiting for a call from us.

I was in the car with the sales director, who at that time was Olga Fuertes, and I called the contact that Estefanía had given me, telling me that I should ask for a Mr. Lion.

I called the number asking for Mr. Lion and they tell me that he isn’t available. I insist, asking when he will be available and they tell me: "no, no, I think you’ve got it wrong". So I asked where I could find Mr. Lion and they told me: "look, you are calling Barcelona Zoo".

As it turned out, it got out of hand and we started calling family members and other co-workers doing the same joke. I guess the person answering all those calls got fed up with it.

Do you have any superstitions, traditions, etc. in Spain’s sales team?

More than traditions we have goals to try and motivate us. The sales work is hard, think about it, if something goes wrong, we are the ones on the front line and when there are complaints, we can receive 20 in one day and that affects you. But it is true that we try to have a good time: if we achieve our annual goal, we have already been to the April Fair in Seville several times. And what happens in Seville stays in Seville.

A particularly emotional moment in your career?

There is not just one, there are several. It's a feeling... the feeling of when someone on the outside tells you: "Wow, Montana is practically in all the paint stores in Spain". Then you realize that all the nights you have spent in Albacete, in Soria, in Malaga... in which you are thinking... what am I doing in Cuenca at 11 o‘clock at night on a Tuesday? That's when you realize the amount you are giving to the company.