After the sale of our previous business Network Waste, to Reconomy in 2015 and the 3-year industry restriction that followed, we are now back in the waste industry and honestly, I couldn’t be happier!! It feels like coming home. The excitement to drive the new business “Circle Waste” forward; the passion to improve customer experience; the passion to develop the culture within the business, that makes our team enjoy coming into the workplace every day; to use technology to ours, our customers and our suppliers benefit and to work on continual improvement across all aspects of our business…. My enthusiasm for the challenge ahead, is at an all-time high!
Coming back into the industry, led me to explaining to a member of our team of my first experience in the waste industry nearly 20 years ago. After telling it, I thought it’s a story worth sharing, as it demonstrates how times have changed for the better, but also how some things haven’t moved on quickly enough.
At the age of 19 a friend of mine Mark Garwood was working for a company called Paragon Labels in Spalding, Lincolnshire. The business at the time provided self-adhesive labels to the food industry. The customer base was the major multiples of Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys etc and the various pack houses throughout the UK that required labels for the products to go “in store”.
I was working on the sales desk at a timber merchants, when Mark called me to say there was an internal account manager job, on the Asda team available at Paragon. I jumped at the chance to apply and subsequently joined Paragon, due to the reputation they had for looking after their staff and as a quickly growing company.
The business had been founded by a man called Tony Lennon, who had the most incredible belief of customer service. He also had the most brilliant way of looking after his team. These days, we wrap it up as company culture and plaster our values all over the wall etc. But in reality, a culture is not what’s written on the wall, it how people feel and act. Tony made everyone feel welcome and valued.
On a Friday, someone would come round and take your McDonalds order and you’d receive your Maccy D’s delivery, along with a beer for your Friday afternoon! Dream world!!
On a Saturday morning, Tony’s wife, Pat, would turn up with hot sausage rolls for the staff in the office and on the shop floor, as thanks for working at a weekend.
New team members commencement in the business was cemented with a night out to celebrate! We all felt part of the company and part of its journey. It was more than just work, it was a way of life!
Tony’s belief in the highest possible levels of customer service ran through the veins of the company and as an internal account manager to Asda, I thought nothing of being on press to approve labels at 3am, to ensure that labels went out via Taxi at 4am, to ensure they were with the pack house by 6am.
If the customer said jump, it was how high and with a smile on your face, the customer was everything!!
I recall a conversation between Tony and Mark one Friday afternoon:
Tony “What are you doing tonight Mark?”
Mark replied, “Nothing much”
Tony “Great, go home and get your passport, here’s my credit card and pin number, take this box of labels with you and there’s the address in Ireland you need to deliver them too, they are urgent for these labels”
Mark “No problem, I’m on it!”
That’s the level of service, no questions asked, no thought of cost, the customer needs it, the customer gets it!!
A year passed, and the company was growing quicker than our knowledge could develop and as such more senior roles got awarded to experienced industry people. The growth and environment of the Paragon business had made us ambitious and as such, we gained external sales roles within the waste industry with Hales Waste.
OMG coming from a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) business into the Waste Industry was the biggest culture shock I could ever experience. I’d gone from a business that did absolutely everything a customer wanted and needed, to one that if we emptied someone’s bin, it was seen as us doing them a favour!! The customer service levels were at best shocking!!! The staff were managed by the “Mafia” in senior positions. I was a Sales Rep at the Bury St Edmunds branch. On first day the depot manager introduced me the Regional Director.
“Hi, this is Chris Dear, our new sales rep”, smoking a big cigar (in the office) and blowing smoke in my face, the Regional Director said, “Great, sell or F**k Off”. That was my first and my lasting impression of him.
Due to my character, it didn’t put me off, I just thought, I’ll show you!! But can you imagine that happening today? Some things have changed for the better!!
18 months after being in the Waste Industry I decided, enough was enough. Mark and I had been on the phone to each other moaning about the poor customer service levels long enough. It was time to put up, or shut up.
I launched a company called Site Services in 2002, which turned over £1m in its first year. Mark later joined as a shareholder and we renamed the business to Network Waste in 2004 and sold it to Greenstar in 2007. In 2009 I reacquired a small part of the business sold to Greenstar of approx. £2.5m turnover (Mark re-joined as a shareholder) and we grew it to a £23m run rate business before selling it to Reconomy in 2015.
On each occasion the businesses grew quickly as we simply applied the Paragon (Tony Lennon) philosophy of, look after your customers and look after your staff! We included the philosophy of looking after our suppliers as if they were customers, which was important. We were and are to this day, a people business!! Not rocket science, right??? However, many companies still get this wrong today and there is still an opportunity for those that do the above well to be better than the rest!!
Today we define our culture in writing, but we have the belief from all those years ago, at Paragon labels. Thank you, Tony Lennon!!!
Circle Waste offers Waste Management Solutions across the UK, through a dedicated, client focused team. If you would like to know more, feel free to email me on chris.dear@circlewaste.co.uk Our website address is www.circlewaste.co.uk
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