Door Industry Journal - Summer 2021

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 46 THE door industry journal summer 2021 Industry News Day in the Life of Hörmann Project Sales Manager – Bradley Mills In this article we talk to Bradley Mills, Project Sales Manager at Hörmann UK, to provide an insight into what his job involves on a daily basis. How long have you worked with Hörmann? Almost 3 years, having joined at the end of August 2018, originally as an Area Sales Manager looking after both domestic and industrial trade accounts. What is your job at Hörmann? I now work as a Project Sales Manager working on any project that has a requirement for our industrial products, this can be anything from big-shed work to car showrooms and anything in-between. I also provide support for our industrial trade partners and, am fortunate to work with some particularly good customers many of which have become friends along the way. As mentioned, I joined Hörmann as an Area Sales Manager, but in June 2019 my current role working on the project side of the business became available and given my industrial background prior to joining Hörmann it was a natural progression. What training was required? I studied Sports Science when I left school but fell into Sales and Project Management – not really my expected career path. I am yet to meet someone who leaves higher education with the aim of joining the industrial door industry, but I can honestly say that I would not change a thing. Most of my training since joining Hörmann has been carried out ‘in-house’, as they offer a very structured introduction to both the company and product range. They are also good at keeping all members of staff up to speed with new developments and products, with regular training at our Coalville headquarters and visits to our manufacturing plants in Holland and Germany. Anyone who knows the Hörmann brand will know the vast array of products we supply – I won’t like to think how many hours have been put into learning about each product. You could say that every day is a school day as there is always something new to become familiar with. What does a normal day look like? As you can imagine 2020 and the beginning of this year resulted in a lot of change to the way we operated, particularly in the field. I was lucky as I carried on working throughout both lockdowns, but my day-to-day routines had to adapt considerably to the challenges faced by us all. From spending four days a week on the road visiting trade customers, main contractors and architects, and attending on-site, I went to mostly work from home only attending face to face meetings when requested - meaning I was only out in the field once or twice a week. However, homeworking proved beneficial in many ways allowing me extra time in front of my laptop to deal with customer queries quicker, follow up on more projects and turn around specifications in less time. The introduction of Teams Meetings for both internal and external meetings proved interesting, come on who doesn’t love a Microsoft Teams meeting? And yes, I was always the one with a bad internet connection. Since the relaxation of COVID restrictions, life is starting to get back to normal and I am enjoying getting back out and seeing customers and clients. I’m now almost back to my normal pattern of working and I think everyone is enjoying some proper human interaction.= What are the best and most challenging parts of your job? The best part, is, without doubt, seeing a completed Hörmann site that I have been involved with from the beginning. My other half finds it highly amusing how excited I get when we drive past a finished distribution centre and you can see bay after bay of Hörmann equipment. What can I say Hörmann loading bays just do it for me! On the other side, anyone who knows me would say that I am very competitive, and I treat the area I cover as if it is my own business, so I like to win every job I get involved with. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, so losing work is a hard pill to swallow. Have you worked on any interesting projects? Just recently we supplied a trade partner on the Isle of Man with 9 Hörmann SPU42 sectional doors that were installed as part of the refurbishment of the main depot of Britain’s only and oldest surviving Horse Tramway. Celebrating its 145th anniversary in 2021, the Douglas Bay Horse Tramways is an iconic tourist attraction, with 27 horses powering many of the original fleets of cars that remain in operation. I have also recently specified a number of Hörmann products on a couple of weird and wonderful projects so watch this space. What have been your proudest moments at Hörmann? Several things spring to mind, but the day I was employed at Hörmann has to be one of the highlights – in my opinion working for the market leader in the door industry just doesn’t get any better. Alongside that, being acknowledged by your superiors has got to be another. An example of this being a few months ago I received a phone call out of the blue from our Managing Director Wolfgang Gorner just to say, ‘well done and keep up the good work’. It is always nice to know that your hard work isn’t going unnoticed. For further information on Hörmann UK’s, call 01530 516868 or visit www.hormann.co.uk