Mika – driving growth through solution-based sales
Mika, who has been with the company for nearly 10 years, is a familiar face to our customers. Mika works as the Sales and Marketing Director for the entire Ouneva Group. We discussed Mika’s fascinating career with us, as well as future prospects in the field of sales and marketing.
Mika has been interested in technical matters from a young age. In vocational school, he studied to become a toolmaker and, for his final project, he designed and built an injection mould from start to finish. After vocational school, Mika continued his studies in Jyväskylä, pursuing a degree in mechanical and production engineering. He returned to his home in North Karelia to work on his thesis for a local industrial company and ended up continuing the project after graduation. When the project was completed, Mika was unemployed for six months due to the challenging market conditions, but he mentions that during that time, he designed and built a log splitter for his own use. Engineers do indeed spend their free time in unusual ways! Later, he found work at a small sheet metal company, where he gained deep expertise in sheet metal mechanics through roles in sales, product and production design, and as a supervisor.
Mika first encountered Ouneva Group at the Subcontracting Fair, where a representative from Jotwire, a familiar company, advertised an open sales engineer position. In November of that same year, 2015, Mika began working at Ouneva Oy as a sales engineer for sheet metal mechanics and terminal products. Mika recalls several successful collaborations with clients. Even then, we offered product development assistance to our customers, which helped us secure several larger contracts.
In 2020, Mika began transitioning into the role of CMO. According to Mika, the interesting part of his current role is the constant flow of new challenges to solve. Like many of our colleagues have said, no two days have been the same, and they probably never will be. Mika also emphasizes the importance—and interest—of closely following market developments in his role.
Mika is responsible for promoting Ouneva Group’s sales, acquiring new customers, and coordinating Group clients. His role also includes overseeing Ouneva Oy’s sales team. When asked about the successes the team has had together, Mika notes that there are many, but he particularly values the day-to-day smaller successes that contribute to the bigger picture. Mika highlights the significant improvements in communication between the customer interface and production, along with how work methods have become more flexible and efficient. The sales team has great team spirit, and everyone has each other’s back.
Solution-based sales is part of Ouneva Group’s new strategy, aimed at achieving growth targets. Mika is responsible for the strategic focus on solution-based sales, and we had the opportunity to discuss this fascinating topic together. The core concept of solution-based sales is to enable controlled and profitable growth for Ouneva Group. The sales strategy renewal is still underway, but Mika shares some of its goals. In the future, marketing and sales will work even more closely together, allowing for a more precise identification of optimal solutions for customers. Product development collaboration with clients will also be more clearly integrated into the Group’s service offerings, with increased investment in this area of expertise. Ouneva Group’s new strategy provides a strong foundation for this development work.