A little chat with Giulio Certo, the Export Sales Director
Hello Giulio, tell us something about yourself….
My name is Giulio Certo, I was born in 1963 and I have been working in LSI LASTEM since I was 23 years old. I am the eldest of the three sons of the company founder, Luciano Certo.
In my free time I like to play sports, swim and run (I participated in the 5 most important marathons in the world). Also, I really like playing the piano and a little bit the guitar.
My work has always led me to frequent places and people far away, so I like to travel and discover different cultures, understanding that, even with the most distant people, we often have common sides that bring us closer and give us the opportunity to establish relationships of friendship, even outside the workplace.
What was the human and professional path that led you to LSI Lastem?
When I was a boy, during my studies (I graduated from the Faculty of Biological and Natural Sciences of the University of Pavia) my father asked me if I could take the time to write the technical manuals of the instruments produced, I accepted. Since then, after more than 30 years, I am still here. After graduating, I totally immersed myself in the reality of a very dynamic Company. I can say that I know LSI LASTEM very well, its history, its evolution, its products and markets. For me, as I am sure for many of my colleagues, LSI LASTEM is my family, where I was born and raised, where I put my head, but also my heart. Over the years, I have covered many roles. Again, with our father, I oversaw marketing, and I followed the long and important process of internationalization of the company from the beginning. From 2004 for some years, I also held his managerial role, but I soon realized that the two spheres of roles were incompatible, and I had to choose one: either to stay in the company to manage it or to go out and sell abroad, so I chose to develop better the foreign market by settling for long periods in Singapore. They were very intense years that gave me the great opportunity to get to know and work more closely with our customers. My strategic choice to dedicate myself abroad worked, in fact today LSI LASTEM exports more than 70% of its products with solid and lasting business relationships. Currently, I am in charge of consolidating and expanding our sales network abroad. Since LSI LASTEM is a family business, and since I am part of its historical memory, I am happy to be involved in the more strategic choices now made by my brother Andrea who, to my great satisfaction, holds the role of CEO.
As the company’s Export Sales Director, how do you play your role, what are the challenges you face every day?
I believe that the sales process is first based on the trust that the customer has in the Company, a trust that must be gained, day after day, with constancy and small steps: the quality of the product and the technical competence make the difference. LSI Lastem is a company with more than 50 years of presence on the market, and I have been following the design and updates of most of the products. My daily challenge is to transfer technical expertise and trust in the company as well as the perception of quality of the LSI LASTEM’s products and services to our distributors abroad.
What do you like about LSI Lastem and your job?
I certainly like to think that I have contributed in making LSI Lastem the company it is today: solid, recognized in Italy and abroad for the quality and seriousness that it has been able to keep high even in the most difficult moments.
Perhaps not everyone remembers the legendary Colonel Edmondo Bernacca, who every day at 7:55 pm conducted the weather forecast, an appointment that kept millions of Italians glued to the small TV screen, to whom he taught the first rudiments of meteorology. I was one of them and, when years later, my father added the LASTEM brand to the LSI, dedicating it to the design and production of meteorological instruments, my mother suggested that the idea was born from my growing interest, and the one of millions of Italians, towards that science.
So, it is also thanks to my evening TV sessions and my father’s intuition that LSI LASTEM is currently one of the main players in the field of meteorological instrumentation.
What I like about my work is also the friendship that binds me to many customers, business partners as well as my colleagues in the company.
