Sebastien Lesourd has been working for Penn Elcom for over 10 years, identifying and managing customers in France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland, but Sebastien’s connection with Penn Elcom goes back a lot further…
Sebastien was born in France – his mother Françoise was a nurse, and his father Jean-Pierre worked with musical instruments. He also has a younger brother who is a head chef and has worked in many top-rated restaurants around the world.
“In the late 70s my father, who bought and sold commercial music instruments, found some ‘very strange cases‘ in a friend’s music shop in the south of France and he decided to bring some back to show to his customers. They were immediately a huge success… at that time, flight cases had not really been seen or heard of! Fascinated by the flight cases, my father started producing his own in the backyard of his music shop, but with increasing customer interest and minimal manufacturing equipment (back then, there were no CNC machines or high-tech equipment, just old-fashioned saws and hands!) he could not keep up with demand. So, he decided to rent a new space in order to expand.”
This saw the start of PROTO, Jean-Pierre’s own business which produced cases and sold case hardware. The company grew extremely quickly, which would eventually lead to PROTO becoming an official distributor for Penn Fabrication… the first-ever European distributor of the now Penn Elcom!
“When I was 12, I started to work with my dad and PROTO, not making cases but helping out and doing little odd jobs like the cleaning. Every summer I worked there, and started learning more and more about the business. I always loved unloading the Penn trucks when they arrived and helping to prepare orders! At age 16, I was able to be more involved with the case production but I have to admit... I was always more interested in sales than in production! After I finished school, I left to join the army. After this, I started working in tourism which I really enjoyed. I then worked in various sales roles and different companies, until the day my father needed me to work with and for him.”
In the late 70’s, Jean-Pierre visited the UK to source new case hardware that was more affordable than what they were using at the time, but that also provided exceptional quality.
“My father and his business partners used to find old flight cases from all over the world. This was actually how they first discovered the Penn Elcom (then Penn Fabrication) name. My father visited the UK with an old truck and drove all the way to a small village in Buckinghamshire called Penn. He knocked on the door of Penn Fabrication and was greeted by Roger Willems (Penn Elcom Chairman) and Frank McCourt (USA Sales) who invited them in for a chat and offered them some food. After this, my father loaded up the truck with as much hardware as he could and that was the start of the relationship with Penn Elcom.”
PROTO eventually ceased trading, and Sebastien became a full-time employee of Penn Elcom. Fast-forward to today, Sebastien is still as passionate about sales within the industry as when he first started, and for him, building relationships with his customers is the most important thing…
“Roger [Willems] once said to me “People buy from people” and that is so true - it‘s exactly what I have done, traveling thousands and thousands of km per month across Europe to create valuable contacts face-to-face, enhancing that personal relationship even in the new era of internet and video calls. I have been working with and know some of these customers for over 20 years… so it’s much more than just a customer-supplier relationship.”
“The Penn Elcom name is very established and widely known in the industry, which makes my job selling much easier! Jokes aside, Penn Elcom are very proactive and determined to be an industry leader by constantly developing new products and solutions for their range of customers. There is a family feeling at Penn Elcom which is super important, and my 10+ years working at Penn Elcom Germany has been a real journey, full of opportunities. I remember when I first met Dennis Meertens (Managing Director at Penn Elcom GmbH) he said to me, “We have Penn Elcom in the heart” and he’s totally right! Everyone here, and at offices, depots and warehouses around the world are breathing Penn Elcom!”
