Alicia Cifré Trassierra leads the way with positivity

Alicia Cifré Trassierra is a straight talker. She believes in hard work, positivity and the power of communication. But it is her sense of community and the desire to drive progress across the print industry that makes her a leader. “All the women in the market are happy to meet other women,” she says, thinking back to the two weeks she and her team spent at drupa, the world’s largest print technology show.

Held in Germany every four years, it attracts over 170,000 visitors – most of them male. But as Canon EMEA’s Vice President of Production Print Direct Sales, Alicia made it her business not only to connect with as many prospects and customers as possible while she was there but to seek out other women in the industry. “Whether these women work for other vendors or are print service providers,” she explains. “I spent time expanding my network, making new contacts and talking to them because this is our ecosystem and it’s important to encourage other women and know what’s going on from our point of view.”

As someone who has changed careers, only moving into sales in production printing fourteen years ago, Alicia feels passionately that there is a world of untapped talent out there – people who might not even consider print as a career – who are missing out on great opportunities in an industry that is so much more than it might seem on the surface. “I moved from finance to sales when Canon acquired Océ in 2009 and it was one of my best decisions because I had been in my comfort zone for a long time and I like a new challenge,” she recalls. “When I started to lead the production business in Spain and Portugal, I was the only woman in Europe in this kind of role.”

She threw herself into the challenge, following a steep learning curve that saw her absorb the fundamentals of the business but, more importantly, understand what the market is looking for and the kind of leader she wanted to be. The combination meant that she discovered the power of listening and how it is key to building strong teams, effective strategies and lasting relationships. During this time, the important message she received loud and clear is that the industry needs to attract new blood and increase its diversity to secure its future success. 

“Production print is misunderstood,” she says. “And this means that it is not viewed as attractive by new talent. But it is important for people to know that we are helping businesses to develop and thrive. Today, we act as consultants and partners to our customers, helping them to enter new areas of business and grow – to hire new people – and this makes us all stronger.” Alicia and her team must have expert, specialist knowledge of the technologies which can create new opportunities, as well as having in-depth insight into customer challenges they help to solve.

So, while ‘sales’ might be in the title, it’s certainly not that simple when it comes to the job description. “In the future, perhaps our production print business needs sales people who are also engineers, mathematicians, people who think differently and can develop unusual projects. People who can teach our customers about our technology as well as solve their challenges. Because we are selling machines that can generate millions – billions – of clicks [pages output] per month.”

And while Alicia wants to see new talent in the industry she loves and has committed her working life to, she strongly believes that a female presence in the room can bring something new to the table. “Our difference in the industry is our strength, I think,” she says. “We stand out and this is an opportunity to demonstrate our value.” But, once that is done, she knows that career growth in print, whatever your gender, is down to “investing a lot of time, demonstrating how you work, visiting customers and being consistent in your meetings, strategies and listening. You do what’s best for the business, together as a team.”

Investment in time is something that Alicia knows well. She travels constantly, sometimes visiting three or four countries a week to meet with print businesses and in-country teams. But at the weekend she looks forward to returning to Barcelona, where she immediately heads to the beach for some peace and quiet before spending restorative time with her family and friends. At 50 years old, she has the energy of someone half her age and this certainly seems, at least in part, to be the result of her natural optimism, confidence and enthusiasm. “When I go to the countries [to Canon National Sales Offices], I always arrive positive, and we need that positive energy. My intention is to motivate.”

And motivate she does. Her ethos is simple, but effective – she is present. “Sometimes, when you are in a senior role, there are demands on your time and this might impact the time you spend visiting customers, or helping your team, for example. But, to me, the key is to always be involved,” she says firmly. “We are all together and one team, and we need to work together for our customers.”