Ticino Welcome °73, March to May 2022 – AS DETERMINED AT WORK AS ON THE RACE TRACK
AS DETERMINED AT WORK AS ON THE RACE TRACK
It's not easy to find space in Philipp Peter's diary because he's constantly on the phone and has been busy with his work since early morning, but by chance, a foreign client cancels a lunch and within a few minutes I reach him at his office in Riva Caccia in Lugano.
I recently saw that it was his work anniversary…
"I'm told I'm in my eighth year at Wetag and to be honest the time has flown by, I only realised this from the messages I've received from friends and colleagues on LinkedIn".
The Austrian-born, the former racing driver never thought of returning to the track, even at the amateur level, after his retirement from racing....
I didn't have the time. When Ueli Schnorf (co-owner of Wetag) and his former partner gave me the opportunity to run the office in Lugano, I felt a great responsibility and didn't want to betray their trust. I invested all my free time in preparing and studying a sector that requires continuous and specific training, I'm thinking of cost estimates, purchase restrictions for foreigners, various permits ... so I would not have had time - even if I had wanted to - to hurry. Besides, I've always said that when you finish something, you have to clean it up, disengage completely, and my decision was to stop going to the race courses; instead, I kept in touch with people, some of whom are still good friends of mine today."
Is it a coincidence that Wetag has two former drivers as managers, Philipp Peter in Lugano and Iradj Alexander-David in Locarno?
"It may be a coincidence, but if we look at our two profiles, we can see that we both worked in the luxury industry when we were racing, had important sponsors and were leading trainers, for example at Ferrari, which means that we were always used to interacting with demanding and very wealthy people. As a driver, but especially as an instructor at international level, it was essential to speak at least three or four languages and to be your own manager, so to have the ability to sell yourself as a person, without forgetting the aspect of sponsorship, which is essential for any driver. This aspect, to which negotiating skills and sociability are added, undoubtedly plays an important role in real estate as well. So I don't know if you can really speak of coincidence when it comes to finding another ex-pilot in Wetag.
Why would someone choose you as a company to buy real estate in the Lugano region?
"I don't think we have to convince people, they have to get to know us first and they do that by looking at our website, contacting us or going to our offices. The feedback from our customers shows that they feel well understood straight away, partly because all Wetag employees are professionally used to dealing with demanding customers. We have people who immediately become loyal to us because they appreciate our work and therefore also give us a search order if they don't find any properties in our offer that interest them".
In recent years, the offices in Lugano have grown exponentially, and you even held the market during the most acute phases of the pandemic. Is that because of your work?
"When I arrived in Lugano, as I said, it was not immediately easy, because people knew me as a top athlete, as a TV commentator, but nobody connected me directly with the world of real estate, even though I had been doing that for years in Andermatt. To cut a long story short: Some people found it 'strange' to see me in a suit, so it wasn't immediately obvious to gain people's trust, I had to take my time and face all the challenges in a professional way, then gradually banks, trustees, friends came to us, and I have to be honest: a lot of it was personal recommendation! The recipe? I don't know, I approached my work the way I did as a pilot: with great determination, trying to be the best and, in case of failure, analysing the situation to improve, just like on the race track. When I arrived in Lugano, we were two people, now we are six, all permanent, with a respectable basic salary and not on commission. I think we have done something right, and I say that as a team, including the colleagues who are in Locarno, where our marketing office is also located."
He often talks about his team
"Yes, because I am very proud of my team and without my staff, we would not have managed to achieve the best the year 2021 for Wetag. It is a group that I have built over the years. Some people couldn't stand the stress and the sheer amount of work and left, but for those who believed in the project and showed passion and flexibility, we can now call them happy employees.
One last question, a curiosity: Is it challenging to work with you?
You just have to know how to deal with me" (laughs).
WETAG CONSULTING IMMOBILIARE SA
Luxury Real Estate for sale in Ticino, Switzerland
Riva Antonio Caccia 3
CH-6900 Lugano
Via Antonio Ciseri 13A
CH-6600 Locarno
Via Monte Verità 1
CH-6612 Ascona
www.wetag.ch
www.journal.wetag.ch
[email protected]
+41(0)91 601 04 40
