John Harris Email and Phone Number

Accountable for all non-technical aspects of the business. Oversaw the transition from the old management structure to a new corporate structure. Ensured that everyone within the business is focused on business priorities and goals and constantly measured performance against these targets. Identified and implemented opportunities to grow both the standing and performance of the business.

Responsible for all non-technical aspects of the business, including Sales, Support, and Marketing. Liaised between customers and the development team to ensure that our software is continuously developed to meet the requirements of our customers. Influenced the priority of these developments and ensured that all major releases are communicated to our customers. Managed the support team to ensure that tickets are handled within our SLAs. If escalation to the development team was required, agreed on priority and timeframe for resolution and communicated with the customer.Key Achievements: 2023: Secured the contract to provide a Home News Delivery solution for The Guardian, integrating their existing subscription software with PPR and leveraging our HND customer base for delivery fulfilment.2022: Obtained the contract to deliver the Home News Delivery solution for the Daily Mail, connecting their current subscription software with PPR and utilising our HND customers for delivery fulfilment.2021: Won the contract with a national multiple retailer, which resulted in doubling the number of our HND retailers.2018 to 2021: Doubled the number of HND retailers and increased the monthly subscription rate per customer by 32%.2020: Expanded the support team to accommodate the growing customer base.2019: Brought the support function in house2018: Integrated PaperRound with the PayPoint One EPOS system and introduced a new 'Counter News' product to our offerings.

Responsible for growing the number of retailers using our software to manage their Home News Delivery operation. Including sourcing and approaching new leads. Openly discussed retailer’s perceptions of negatives, and turned them into positives. Also, dealt with Customer Success and Account Management for existing clients and identified opportunities to upsell where possible.Key Achievements:2017: Created a YouTube channel and recorded a suite of “How to” videos as a self-serve customer support facility.2016: Created and implemented an onboarding process for new customers.2016: Designed and implemented a complete sales process from initial enquiry to conversion.

Oversaw the daily sales of the Leicester Mercury and Nottingham Post, encompassing retail sales, subscriptions, pre-pay voucher schemes, and proactive selling for both newspapers. Key Achievements include:2015: Transitioned the home delivery operation to an external provider, achieving cost reductions while sustaining distribution efficiency.2015: Launched a unified subscription model for the Leicester Mercury and Nottingham Post, offering options for home delivery or pre-pay vouchers. Additionally, implemented the Plus loyalty program, enhancing retention rates among our principal subscribers.

Oversaw daily sales of the Leicester Mercury. Key Achievements:2014: Initiated and designed modifications to the Home Delivery operation, complete with cost/revenue analysis and projected retention enhancement.2013: Restructured Direct Delivery, boosting delivery efficiency to 99.2%.

Voluntary WorkDuring 2012 I become a volunteer as an Appropriate Adult for Derbyshire Appropriate Adult Service. This required building a rapport with vulnerable adults and juveniles so that I was able to facilitate communication between the police and vulnerable adults and juveniles who had been arrested.

Delivering shopping directly to customers.On finding out that I was being made redundant from Manchester Evening News, I took on this role to ensure that I maintained my employment. I then secured the position of Newspaper Sales Manager at Leicester Mercury.

Responsible for the administration and weekly sale of 450,000 newspapers and the reliable free distribution of over 1 million newspapers. Key achievements:2012 – Project manage the outsourcing of all Administration, Customer Service, Transport and Logistics of busy Newspaper Sales department to Smiths News & centralised Trinity Mirror hub. Ensured existing team members continued to perform and complete all required tasks during their ‘at risk’ period.2012 – Transferred the free letterbox network to a centralised Trinity Mirror hub. Achieved all required deadlines.2011 – Created, successfully recruited & managed new Reader Offers & Competitions team. To source and promote strong offers and competitions to increase newspaper sales for the paid for titles. Saw a 3% improvement in sales performance for the weekly paid titles following creation.2010 – Managed the outsourcing of free titles’ back-checking Call Centre operation, saving approx £25k per annum. Handled the internal redundancies, and ensured that performance was maintained following transfer. 2010 – Worked on Audit Bureau of Circulation Technical Group to identify and test alternative methods to telephone back-checking. Came up with and demonstrated an email version that worked successfully, that could have reduced costs, however was not implemented due to other changes within ABC.2009 – Oversaw the full integration of administration for all elements of department, combining 3 separate smaller teams, resulting in improved efficiency, and a higher skilled department.2008 – Worked with the Director to remove newspaper returns scanning and introduced ‘quick returns’ – saving £220k. Given additional responsibility of managing the new ‘quick returns’ process.2007-2008 – Sourced and changed supplier for household data for telephone back-checking, saving £10k per annum and increasing the number of names & telephone numbers.

2006 – Project managed the installation of MGB Newspaper Sales & Distribution Computer System for the Manchester Evening News. Created project plan, and ensured all key milestones were achieved to time and budget.2003-2006 – Remapped the free distribution network to round level – consisting of 1.1 million deliveries per week, through 700,000 unique letterboxes through a network of over 6000 rounds. Liaised with MGB to create a new mapping module to allow us to create rounds on the system. They then successfully sold this module on to other centres nationally. Project managed the process taking into account new build, and average paginations to ensure all rounds were efficient and deliverable within 2 hours.2003-2004 – Created, successfully recruited and managed new telephone back-checking Call Centre. Set all call targets and ensured they were consistently met. Also ensured that everything was done within agreed timescales and to budget2003 – Introduced ‘Fair Pay’ model for distributors and agents. Liaised with MGB to re-write their payment module. Again MGB successfully then sold this on to other centres nationally.2002 – Project managed the installation of MGB computer system for weekly paid for and weekly free titles. Created project plan, and ensured all key milestones were achieved to time. All of these projects were absolutely key in turning around our distribution from a performance of 85% efficiency to become one of the best in the UK, as proven by the numerous awards we have won from 2003. When we centralised our free letterbox operation, we continued to achieve net distribution efficiency of greater than 99.5% for all of the free newspapers. The successful completion of these projects ultimately resulted in my promotion to Operations Manager.

Joining MEN Direct in it's infancy, one of the first tasks was to bring 'in house' the distribution network from Circular Distributors.I was part of the team responsible for this smooth transition. Once we had brought all of the titles in house, I was then responsible for the distribution of a number of the titles on a day-to-day basis. The promotion to Area Development Manager occured very soon after I joined the company after I proved to be a very methodical and conscientious employee.

Responsible for the day-to-day distribution of the group's Free newspapers. This role was very important in my development.It gave me the first taste of responsibility, as I had to ensure that the delivery of the free newspapers occurred every week to a very high standard. I was also responsible for the flagship free title the Chesterfield Advertiser, which had a weekly distribution of 55,000 copies.

General administrationThis was my first full-time position. I started on a YT scheme, which allowed me to prove my ability in a work environment, whilst also completing a GNVQ in Business Studies.In the 18 months I did this role, I got a very broad understanding of how a Newspaper sales / distribution department works. This was absolutely key in my development, which allowed me to progress to Free Newspaper Distribution Manager, and then onto the Manchester Evening News.