Retirement calls Ponsse’s seasoned veteran: Reijo Puska replaces sales with motorcycling
A well-earned retirement awaits Reijo Puska, area sales manager in South Ostrobothnia. Reijo will retire at the end of the year after more than 26 years at Ponsse.
“I’ve had a long and good career,” Reijo says and continues: “Ponsse has been an excellent employer, and I was certainly lucky to land such a good job.”
Reijo has not worked for his entire career at Ponsse, however. He took the first steps on his career path building factory structures across Finland. After that, he built forest machines at Kindai.
FROM SERVICE TO SALES
Reijo heard about a vacant service mechanic position at Ponsse, and soon the Ostrobothnian found himself in training at the Iisalmi service centre and the Vieremä factory.
A few years passed working as a service mechanic at the Seinäjoki service centre until Ponsse started to look for a new area sales manager.
“By then, I’d been six years at Ponsse and was already familiar with all the customers in the area. I applied for the position and was shortly on my way to Vieremä to be interviewed by Einari Vidgrén and Erkki Karppinen. It didn’t take long before we shook hands,” Reijo says.
For Reijo, it was easy to transfer from service to sales, as he had already become familiar with Ponsse’s customers in the area. The first machine sale of his career at Ponsse was completed with Bröderna Backlund from Nykarleby.
“Reijo has sold us almost 30 machines over the years, and we have enjoyed working with him. Ever since Reijo started in his position, we’ve had nothing but Ponsse’s forest machines,” says Gunnar Backlund, one of the two founders of Bröderna Backlund, who will also retire soon.
It seems that the final sale of Reijo’s Ponsse career will also be completed with Bröderna Backlund later this autumn when the company will replace one of its forwarders with a newer model.
SOLID TRUST IN THE BACKGROUND TEAM
During Reijo’s sales career, the market area in Western Finland has grown rapidly. PONSSE forest machines account for more than 50 per cent of all machines in South Ostrobothnia.
“The Seinäjoki service centre employs many long-term employees, most of whom have spent more than ten years at Ponsse. This stands for solid professional skills. It’s been easy to work as a salesperson here with all the well-running maintenance and spare parts services behind us,” says Reijo.
“I’ve always got along well with the customers, and it’s safe to say that I’ve always tried to be fair and honest,” Reijo says in summary.
EXCELLENT TEAM SPIRIT
Reijo praises the good team spirit of the Finnish sales team. Ponsse Finland’s sales were recognised with the title of best sales organisation in the country in 2022.
“We’ve experienced all kinds of things with Reijo and other members of the sales team over the years,” says Jani Liukkonen, Country Manager of Finland, who has been Reijo’s supervisor since 2009.
“Reijo has been one of the leaders of our Ponsse Bikers club ever since we started riding together in Norway in 2011. It would be nice if Reijo continued to ride with us in the future,” Jani says.
Reijo would also like to dedicate more time to motorcycling during his retirement. He will also certainly spend a lot of time in his son’s workshop, in which various machine projects are waiting to be completed.