Pakelo’s Export Manager talks about travel, human relations and technical training on oils and lubricants.

Published: 09 November 2023

Diego Vaccaro, our Export Manager, has logged nearly 1,000 hours in the air, flown 600,000 km, landed in 46 different countries and passed through more than 90 airports throughout his time at Pakelo. All this despite the two-year global pandemic that drastically reduced his international travels but not his workload! Between trips, we asked Diego to tell us his story. He decided to immerse us into the realm of the company’s foreign relations, telling us about his passion for travel and interest in people and cultural exchange.


How did you start your career? And how did you discover Pakelo?

I have always been fascinated by different cultures throughout the world. Even as a child, I enjoyed travelling and meeting people from different countries. My passion for travelling has never faded and the job I do today has allowed me to truly fulfil my dream.

I began my career as an administrative employee at a winery, where I was then able to grow and become an Export Manager. Thanks to this opportunity, I began to nurture relationships and build a solid network of contacts. I organised and participated in my first trade shows abroad, where I honed my skills and came face to face with new realities.

Pakelo was one of these contacts, a business well known for the high quality of its engine oils and lubricants. They offered me the role of Export Manager, a challenge I willingly accepted.

So I went from wine to oil!

how did you start working at Pakelo? What struck you the most about this manufacturer of engine lubricants?

I joined the Pakelo team in 2011. I can still recall the initial educational seminars and technical training sessions, which were critical in a field as specialised as lubricating oils. When I first started, I was tasked with developing the market in countries where our brand was almost unknown. This involved painstaking work to design a network of contacts that would talk and get everyone talking about PakeloToday, the strength of our network is precisely our foreign distributors. Of course, we also collaborate with major international machinery manufacturers and industries, which, in some cases, have contributed to radical changes in how the company works.


What is your aim and how do you work with international suppliers and distributors?

Our goal is to build lasting relationships with our importers, distributors and customers, not to make quick or easy sales. To achieve this, one of the things we like to do is welcome our customers here in Italy. This gives them the opportunity to experience the typical hospitality of our culture and get a first-hand feel for our business. We want every foreign customer to be involved and feel part of the family.  And this becomes a mutual process. When I travel abroad to meet with our distributors, I am always made to feel welcome! This is another reason why I love my job. Every trip is an opportunity for professional and personal growth. This might also be why I struggle to bring home souvenirs; the things I take home from my travels are primarily relationships and experiences.


What are your three primary responsibilities at Pakelo?

It’s difficult to summarise my work at Pakelo in just three points. If I had to narrow it down to my three most important tasks, I would say:

  • The first is to help our existing foreign distributors expand their markets by providing technical and commercial support.

  • The second is to listen to the needs and requirements of the customer. It may sound trivial, but putting oneself in the customer’s shoes and understanding what they genuinely need with empathy and a view to finding a solution, is perhaps the most crucial aspect of the sales role rather than simply pushing and proposing products.

  • The third is in-office Team training and coordination. This is because obviously, only a close-knit team can produce genuinely unrivalled results.


Speaking of which, how do you get on with your team?

I am very proud and grateful to my colleagues since together, we have managed not only to withstand the pandemic and international crises defining the last few years but also to secure steady growth. In just a few short years, we have gone from 10 to more than 40 international distributors!

Do you have a motto or a dream that you would like to share with us? My motto?
Something I often repeat to my colleagues and even myself is to “go all the way”, essentially another way of saying never give up. 
My dream, on the other hand, would be to live in a world where there are no borders, and where people can travel freely across cultures and countries.

 

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