Developing new business growth in London and the surrounding area for Shieldyouself. Market leaders in Food Hygiene, Health and Safety and Fire Safety.

My role at IFSE was to champion the Zanussi Professional brand of commercial catering equipment. This brand is manufactured by Electrolux in Pordenone, Italy.Zanussi Professional was making a comeback into the UK after decades of absence. The major focus on sales was through national accounts.

In this role I was self-employed, with an agency agreement to sell DIHR commercial catering equipment in the UK and Ireland.I travelled extensively to meet with dealers. Dealers would buy directly from the factory in Italy, and my role was to develop business and support dealers.Many new dealers came on board and it was fantastic to help them and to see business grow.Being self-employed, I developed my own sales and marketing plan, and managed all commercial activities of my own company. It really makes a difference when it is your own business, and not some else's!I got to really understand the UK and Ireland importers and distributors market. I loved applying my sales and marketing skills and seeing them develop into business growth. Great fun!

IME is a major manufacturer of commercial catering equipment from their factories in Milan. I joined the group, to help out in three main areas:> Looking after export sales, with a key focus on Asia, Middle East and North America.> Improving the marketing structures for the company.> Helping with the development of new products.What a great team in Italy! My training in Cultural Management helped to prepare me in working with the Italian business culture.It was great fun to personally develop new business in far away countries. Omega in Thailand, FED in Australia, along with business in Cambodia, Taiwan, Turkey.....I have said to several people, that if you can develop new sales growth in these countries, then doing so in the UK should be rather easy.Working with the R and D team to design and build prototypes of new machines was a real thrill. The premium, Stellar range. The clean water washing range. And, the North American machine. Developing the fill-and-dump machine range and then seeing this very North American concept being installed in America, as a Milano built machine, was a great thrill. Proof that we could produce equipment for the global market.What a great shame that some of the IME companies had financial issues that dragged the Group into liquidation. It was awful to see the liquidators taking over. But this was a clear message - time to move on.

I joined the ITW Food Equipment Group, to work on a European Project. This project was to research the service market, and to develop a long-term strategy to substantially grow sales in service related products.It was an honour to work with David Toney, and our European colleagues. Initially, meetings were strained as some definitions of service were limited to thinking of an engineer and a spanner.As we developed, the group began to see the wealth of opportunities within our customer base. Improved service contracts, hygiene services, water care services, laundry and housekeeping based services....all supported in our market research.A really great long term plan was presented to, and accepted by ITW. It is nice to see some of these now available in some of the ITW FEG companies.In the second part of my ITW career, I was asked to develop new business into chain accounts - from a base of zero. Always a challenge, but that is what is so exciting.Using all of my marketing and sales skills, along with extensive knowledge of commercial warewashing, I feel that I made my mark. Fuller Smith and Turner, Jamie Oliver's, Little Chef, TGI Friday's........together we did it.

Following the purchase of Classic, the company was re-branded as Classeq. This allowed for trademark registration. I was responsible for all of the non-UK sales of Classeq. That was, zero. With the intention to develop the strategy and grow the export sales.With a main focus in Europe, the Middle East and Australia, business started to grow. Poland was an early country, along with a major Austrian importer. One of my favourite countries was Israel. I remember spending three days going around the country with Adi Fish, who was a wonderful tour guide as well as a major equipment importer. We agreed the deal, while sitting in his car outside Tel Aviv airport on my way home. FED in Australia were another great success, and what a great team to work with covering both Australia and New Zealand.

I joined the Winterhalter Group, working out of the Head Office in Meckenbeuren, Germany.Winterhalter were selling a range of consumable products that helped to increase sales and profits around the commercial kitchen. However, this required a better strategy to be developed and implemented. Following my experience at Ecolab Europe, a strategy was agreed with the key stakeholders. The product range was expanded on and improved.A new sales and service structure was required to access the Winterhalter customer base. The tool to do this, was "Hygiene Express" - a van based system with sales and service of detergents, water care and ancillaries.What a joy to see the first Hygiene Express van in Munich, and others in Vienna. Recruiting and training the sales team was a challenge, but fortunately English was the common language.Developing detergent sales into China was a real challenge, and one of my greatest memories. So much red tape, and so many language barriers. But seeing this roll out in Shanghai was a thrill.Turkey really took to this concept, and the sales and margins here were the inspiration for other subsidiary countries.Being asked to develop a budget equipment strategy was an honour. This strategy was again presented to the stakeholders and accepted. Looking at the group business today, with premium equipment as well as the budget Classeq brand, supported by a strong and profitable consumable division is proof that the strategies were right.

I took up this role at a time when Ecolab described themselves as a speciality chemical supplier. The European marketing team were to change all of that!With the 5 year strategy developed and agreed by Ecolab Inc, we set about developing and launching innovative new systems.Advanced chemistry, new packaging ideas, controlled dispensing - all supported by a direct sales force.The marketing team focussed on sectors: Warewashing, Laundry, Housekeeping, Kitchen Hygiene. Ecolab branded programmes for the direct route to market, with Henkel branded programmes for distributors.Extensive work with the main Ecolab plants at Tessenderlo, Valby, Rossano, Slough. The in-house development of dispensing technologies as well as outsourced projects with Brightwell, SEKO, Hydro and others.Great work from the European marketers based regionally in Europe to bring the new products and programmes to market.By deleting old products, and bringing in innovative new systems that the end-user saw value in, the margins improved.This was the period that transformed Ecolab in Europe. Double digit sales growth, margins up 1% point for each and every year. Expansion of programmes, new markets grown.What an honour to lead this European team in such a business transformation.