Although he was born in the City of Rancagua, Chile, Sebastián San Francisco today directs the direction and expansion of RLA in Peru. He highlights that rental growth is measured by the number of hotels and convention centers being built in the region.
Richard Santa
Although his professional training was based on hotel management and administration, being a client of an audiovisual rental services company for events for several years allowed Sebastián San Francisco to know how the business works, to the point that he ended up linking to the AV industry in this segment.
Our Professional of the month invited for this edition who met RLA, the company where he currently works, as a client during 2004 when he worked as Operations Manager of a hotel in Santiago de Chile. After a few years, he wanted to grow and take on new challenges. Knowing that RLA was looking for new members to replicate the business model in other regions of Chile, he decided that it was time to take a new step.
"They proposed me to replicate the business model that was already working in Santiago, Concepción, and Puerto Montt, in the north of the country and be responsible for the Antofagasta branch. After carrying out an important management for four years in that position, implementing the business model, and positioning RLA in the city, the challenge grew to export the model to Peru, my current destination. And so far everything has been growing," he said.
New destinations
Since 2011, this Chilean came to Lima to assume the General Management of RLA in Peru. And despite how traumatic a change of country could be for anyone, for Sebastian this was no problem, because he considers chile and Peru to be similar countries, he is close to where he can practice his favorite activity and has the support of his family.
"Fortunately, Chile and Peru have quite a few similarities which somehow makes relationships with internal and external customers simpler. Although each culture has very own stamps, it has served me a lot and I think it is a key aspect, to talk about everything. Not only the good things are discussed, but also the discrepancies, opinions or situations in which we must improve," he said.
To this is added that he is a fan of Surfing, an activity that he practices at least two days a week, it is his great hobby because it helps him release the stress and adrenaline that comes with starting each event. And he assures that his work has allowed him to grow even in surfing, thanks to the fact that his destinations have always been by the sea.
Sebastián San Francisco considers that the cultural exchange within the company is great. "Most of the senior technicians have traveled to one of the countries in which we operate to provide support in events, exchange experience or to train, which beyond learning about the operation of certain technologies and leveling service standards, generates a cultural exchange that has enriched us all as people."
In your personal case, take advantage of each new destination to travel and get to know the surroundings. In Peru he is getting to know its landscapes and its culture. "I was lucky enough to live in England for a year, there I learned to relate to a myriad of cultures and to adapt to changes with ease. I think this has helped me learn to take the best of each culture and enhance it professionally."
Constant innovation
One of the factors highlighted by our Professional of the Month on the AV industry, is the entertainment of the daily work, which is different every day. "Very rarely is one event similar to another. Creativity rules and that is very motivating and challenging. Constantly innovating is what we are looking for."
Of his working hours he assured that it is defined by clients and events. Try to be present at least a couple of montages a day. It reassures you to witness the trials or attend the beginning of the events especially those who have some degree of difficulty. He likes to talk to customers, receive their feedback on the spot, review every detail in the field, monitor what is already supervised.
"At RLA we are all obsessive about neatness and neatness in every event. That the cables are not seen, that the image is perfectly calibrated, the audio, the personal presentation of the technicians, their treatment, in short, that our service exceeds the expectations of the client. It was easy for me to incorporate the RLA model and culture, it's like constantly looking for the perfect wave. This certainly means that it does not have a defined start or end time of the day," he said.
Growth with strength
For Sebastián San Francisco, the AV Industry is expanding strongly and at a very fast pace. And he puts as proof of his argument the number of five-star hotels and convention centers that are being built throughout Latin America.
"Part of the RLA model involves keeping the different managements of the countries aware of new real estate developments where our model can be a contribution to the project. This is how in RLA we see with very good eyes the next two years, after having endured, as a region, quite well the financial crisis generated during 2008-2009, "he said.
On Peru, he added that it is in a process of maturation of the audiovisual rental business, which is why the market is increasingly competitive. Several foreign companies and producers have arrived (especially from Spain), which has made the average value of an event tend to fall.
In Colombia, where they also have a presence, it is growing significantly, opening the business to international suppliers. The challenge there lies in the proximity to the United States, which generates a permanent comparison.
Working with height
Among his experiences, the one he remembers the most was when he held his first event in the Antofagasta region. He assures that his debut at 3,500 meters above sea level was very uncomfortable, because they found countless situations typical of working at geographical height, such as complications to breathe, headache and with mining demands such as safe work protocols and environmental standards, among others.
"It was very useful to learn quickly that to work in mining (the main client in the region) it is necessary to comply with strict care, health, and safety procedures. Beyond the usual strict safety procedures of RLA, I understood that I could not put at risk the safety or health of my team so I took care to know in depth the procedures and ways of working of the sector".
And to release the tensions produced by his day-to-day work, he usually practices different sports. The main one is surfing, but he also periodically plays football with the company's collaborators. "It serves us for everything! It helps us relax, distract ourselves, get to know each other better, work as a team, and do physical activity, since this area is sometimes a bit sedentary."
All these activities Sebastián San Francisco shares with his family. He is married to María Pía, who has accompanied him to all his destinations and they have two children: Cristóbal of three years and Pedro of four months, the latter born in Peru.
Finally, he highlights that the years dedicated to the AV industry have allowed him to grow in the labor and professional, thanks to the constant training courses, and updating, to the ISO 9001 certification with which very few companies in the field have. Also grow in growing personally and family.
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