As I mentioned in my last post, the mood at Burlington Air Express, later known aas BAX Global wasn't particularly good in mid-late 1989 and there seemed to be a lot of politics going on as the two cultures tried to integrate, particularly in the middle and upper management levels. My previous branch manager at WTC, Peter Hartley had left the merged company a few months earlier and was now working for Martinair, the all air cargo airline. He was now visiting all the freight forwarders in the North West looking for business.
In the course of his travels, he called on Chris Fahy at Kuehne & Nagel, the large Swiss freight forwarder who had a large operation at Manchester Airport. Peter was asked if he knew anyone who'd be suitable in a sales role, and he recommended me, as he felt that even though I had no direct sales experience, I knew the air freight product inside out and had a great rapport with the WTC/BAX customers.
As a result, I got a call from Mark Oxtoby, the then regional sales manager of Kuehne & Nagel and after an interview with both Mark and Chris, I was taken on in my first regional sales role in early December 1989. I was told by Chris that they didnt expect I'd gain any business before Christmas as it was too late in the year however I had some close relationships with key customers at BAX Global and I was in contact with them within a few days of joining Kuehne & Nagel. I was really pleased to secure trials on two new customers before Christmas which was a feather in my cap and more than that, a confidence boost for me in a role I had no prior experience of. These were USA air freight import customers and as USA air freight was one of Kuehne & Nagel's main development areas, it went down very well.
I carried out the regional sales role and did well, particularly on USA air freight import customers, and in mid 1992, I was asked whether I would take on a national sales development role for the USA East Coast, covering the main airports of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. As soon as I arrived in the USA on my first sales development trip in October 1992, I felt at home and knew that I would both enjoy and do well in this market. Most of the customers we gained tended to be what we now call SMEs, small to medium sized customers, with annual freight spends of between GBP 50,000 and GBP 300,000.
I made sales trips to the USA East Coast twice per year from 1992 until 1996 until in mid 1996, I was approached by Danzas (UK) who wanted to talk to me about a new role developing Danzas's regional business in the UK North West. Danzas at that time were one of the longest standing transport organisations in the world, having been established in 1815 however in 1996, their UK business was very operationally driven and although they had a great international footprint, they were very reliant on historic loyal customers.
I decided that I was ready for a change, having been at Kuehne & Nagel for almost seven years and having limited potential for promotion in a fairly small sales structure in Manchester and so accepted the Danzas offer. I joined Danzas in January 1997, and this was to be the company that changed beyond all recognition after they were acquired by Deutsche Post in 1998.
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