Antwerp, Belgium, 22st July 2009 – The Benelux office of Univar, a leading European company specialising in the sales, marketing, application and safe, efficient handling of a wide range of chemicals and ingredients, has become the first European distributor to participate in the Dow Corning Seller “Silicone Champions” training programme. The intensive two-day programme aims to provide sales teams with relevant information, data and arguments to enable them to become so-called “Silicone Champions”.
Univar and Dow Corning have been long-term colleagues in successfully selling and marketing a wide range of silicone-based specialties in the Benelux and all over the world. Univar Benelux actively promotes Dow Corning specialties to key industry segments, such as personal care and coatings, for a wide variety of applications. Both parties bring considerable expertise to the market, most notably technical excellence and support, development of new applications in conjunction with customers and raising industry awareness of the benefits of silicone-based technologies.
The Dow Corning Seller Certification Programme
On 15-16 June 2009, several Univar Benelux sales professionals attended the Seller “Silicone Champions” programme organised by Dow Corning at their Seneffe facilities. The sales team learned about silicone benefits, managing selling tools and the most appropriate products for various functionalities and applications. At the end of the programme, all participants completed a test and will submit case studies in order to become “Silicone Champions”. “This is great recognition for Univar Benelux,” said Michel Vandermeiren, Univar’s Managing Director, Benelux. It will help the sales team increase value for the market place and enrich the pipeline of silicones’ growth opportunities.”
“All Univar Benelux attendees were unanimous in their appreciation of Dow Corning’s Seller Silicone Champions programme as extremely useful training. They agreed that it was practical and dynamic and that it provided them with the right tools to effectively sell Dow Ceorning Silicones,” said Philippe Moniotte, Director, Supplier and Product Management, Univar Benelux. “We are very proud that Dow Corning selected our Benelux business to pioneer this programme and to roll it out further within Univar Europe. The quality, seniority, and competence of the Dow Corning team during this two-day programme greatly impressed us and we are grateful for their ongoing commitment and trust in Univar. ”
"Key seller relationships rely on continual, mutual investment," said Kevin Pohlschmidt, Dow Corning Global Strategic Distribution Manager. "We were really pleased by the level of Univar’s commitment to invest in this type of hands-on training. Certainly the level of participation and enthusiasm was impressive and we anticipate a nice boost in sales as a result. Univar has a high quality sales force that we are happy to see representing our brand to the market."
Univar Benelux and Dow Corning are now ready to move forward with a key relationship that creates mutual value and goes far beyond chemical distribution. Capitalising on its pan-European scope, unity and integration, Univar will shortly deploy this programme with Dow Corning in all other local sales organisations.
About Univar
Univar is one of the world’s leading independent distributors of industrial and specialty chemicals and related services. Univar provides its customer base, made up of 250,000 customers, with a full portfolio of products. Univar operates a network of approximately 170 distribution centres throughout North America, Europe and China. In 2008, Univar reported sales of $9.4 billion. For more information, visit: http://www.univareurope.com/ / http://www.univarcorp.com/.
About Dow Corning
Dow Corning provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services via the company’s Dow Corning® and XIAMETER® brands. Dow Corning is a joint venture equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning’s annual sales are outside the United States. For more information, visit: http://www.dowcorning.com/
For further information please contact:
Catherine LENNON
Communications Manager Europe – Univar Europe
Tel: +32 2 525 05 63
Mobile: +32 478 251 588
mailto:Catherine.lennon@univareurope.com
Eva BÖCKLE
HILL & KNOWLTON
Tel: +32 2 737 95 00
Mobile: +32 478 52 35 16
mailto:eboeckle@hillandknowlton.com |