‘I graduated from Edge Hill University in 2012 and enrolled with Jewson’s on a Graduate Management Trainee course. During the course, I worked in two civils branches and a general builders merchant branch, completing the course in October 2015. I was then promoted to Assistant branch manager for the local Jewson’s branch in Wigan and there continued to expand my knowledge of the wide range of products used in the building and civils sector. I was drawn to the civils side of the market, as this part of the industry has always fascinated me and I’ve enjoyed learning and broadening my knowledge about the specialist products involved. In particular I find the products and system used in today’s civil engineering industry innovative and interesting. Although I will always be thankful to Jewson’s for my initial training and starting me in the industry, I felt that the opportunity to join TCS in September 2016 was too good to miss as it aligned with my preference for civils products and applications.

An aspect of my role with TCS that I particularly enjoy is using our specialist geosynthetics knowledge to help our merchant customers find what they need. I do this by providing information on the industry leading geotechnical products that we offer and their various applications. I believe customers not only appreciate the technical help they receive but also that they can rely on our fast and efficient responses. This level of service has helped me to build a trusting relationship with my customers. As well as dealing with our merchant customers, we source geotechnical products from many different suppliers. This often involves product training and consultation with the suppliers which keeps my interest peaked and means that I can offer the most effective and up to date advice to my customers. Building relationships with suppliers is also important and I especially enjoying playing football against them (but only when we win). I feel this keeps the relationships open and positive while allowing a personal connection to be established which I believe is vital – at the end of the day, notwithstanding everything else, people deal with people.

Reflecting on my time with TCS, it’s hard to believe how fast the last three years have gone. As I mentioned I have particularly enjoyed building and expanding my product knowledge and developing my customer base, with many new relationships formed alongside strengthening old ones. I look forward to continuing this development over the years to come. I have also enjoyed the banter in the office with regards to winning orders and gaining customers, although it is all a team effort, the camaraderie is what make TCS an exciting, fun and inclusive place to work. My involvement in growing the product and customer base with TCS is something I am proud of. ‘’

After a couple of years trying various industries, and quickly learning that motor vehicle mechanics was not for me, I moved into a business apprenticeship with a manufacturer of drainage and gas venting geocomposites, where I started as a sales support administrator. The construction and civil engineering sector quickly grabbed my attention and I found something that was not only interesting but also challenging. In the early 2000’s geosynthetic materials were still seen as some new age technology, despite being around for a couple of decades at that time. I was particularly interested in how these materials replaced traditional construction methods I began a largely self-taught journey of the products and their applications. Upon completing my apprenticeship I moved into a full-time sales role dealing with an array of products including erosion control mats, geocomposite drainage layers and geomembrane liners to name just a few.

After five years I was approached by a specialist sub-contractor of geomembranes and bioengineering products, to become National Sales and Contracts Manager. I had no experience of contract management or sales management, but off I headed from sunny Holmfirth in West Yorkshire down to the beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. At 22 years of age, this was a daunting experience but one I really enjoyed. Here I learned more about geomembranes and the various applications of these materials including lining of attenuation tanks, baffle curtains in underground reservoirs, lake and pond lining. I also gained experience in the different types of membranes such as HDPE, LLDPE, PP (Polypropylene) and EPDM including why different polymers suited different applications. From requiring high chemical resistance that HDPE offers for applications such as contaminated ground, to the flexibility of PP geomembranes and the ease of installation over HDPE in demanding and awkward shaped applications. I also learned more in-depth about the bioengineering side of the industry which included coir erosion control mats such as our Techmat CN and CB ranges, pre-established coir pallets and rolls, brushwood faggots, rock rolls, and floating islands. Moving to a new part of the country in a new role helped to shape who I am today and enhanced and expanded my product knowledge.

Moving on I joined CMS as part of the geotechnical products sales team distributing polymer paviours, geogrids, grass protection matting, woven and non-woven geotextiles, and other geotechnical solutions. Following a takeover by SIG and a move in premises from Warrington to Manchester, I was installed as sales manager for CMS which then became SIG Geotechnical, after three successful years building the business and helping with the integration into SIG I joined Mark Maloney and Philip Cox, two previous directors from CMS, who had set up Technical Civils Solutions.

I started college in 2013 and studied Physical Education, Sociology, Psychology & Business Studies without fully knowing what I wanted to do as a career. I passed all my exams in the first year but felt I wanted to do something within a working environment and to learn on the job whilst practicing the skills I had picked up in my first year in business studies.

So I started the second year looking out for potential apprenticeship opportunities. I didn’t want to rush into anything so I took my time and waited for the right opportunity. After some time came across an advertisement for an apprentice sales advisor at TCS Geotechnics. At the time I had no geotechnical background so the products and services TCS offer was completely new to me but that made the opportunity all the more interesting. I applied for the position, was given an interview and not long after, received an offer. I quickly accepted and started in April 2015.

The scheme at TCS offered me on the job training relating to the products, services and sales techniques utilised by TCS. I also received training on the accounting and CRM software packages and became proficient in all the various transport and logistics portals. TCS also gave me time within the working day to study a level 2 Business Administration NVQ qualification. I completed this course and progressed to Level 3 Business Administration NVQ qualification which I completed in May 2018.
I think there have been many benefits to learning on the job. Not only does it help to focus on the specific products and processes that TCS have in place but it allowed me to start to build up key relationships with my customers and the associated confidence. Responding to enquiries quickly and offering a rapid and informative level of service is one of the key qualities TCS pride themselves on.

The training I have received has allowed me to develop the skills needed to do this and it is clearly very much appreciated based on the positive responses I receive from customers. Converting a quotation into an order always gives me that sense of achievement and motivates me to continue to develop in my role. I have recently started to visit my customers at their branches to further extend and build on those relationships. By representing TCS and meeting the customers face to face, it gives an extra dimension to our growing relationships.

A WHOLE NEW ANGLE

When the time came to spread my wings and gain new experience elsewhere the thought of leaving one company after 15 years and going to another was a scary one. However, the beauty of moving to an existing geotechnical distributor of Tensar products, was the familiarity with those products. The opportunity to continue to contribute to the growth and sale of those innovative products and systems but from a different angle. However, the welcome challenge is that I am now dealing with a different set of customers; the merchant network and also a wider new range of geotechnical and geosynthetic products. In addition to Tensar Geogrids, there are new products for me to learn about such as geocellular confinement systems (Techcell),  woven geotextiles, invasive weed barriers (Plantex) and gabions to name a few.

The support from suppliers to stock their market leading products such as Tensar TriAx geogrids, Terram Bodpave, Dupont Plantex and Formpave Aquaflow, shows how dedicated we are to supplying only the best products to our customers.

Selling geotechnical and geosynthetic products to the market via the merchant network is an interesting business model built on excellent levels of service and customer relations. Our approach allows us to build trusting relationships with our merchant customers, which is a very important core value to TCS and something that was born out of Mark and Phil’s original experience when working in the merchant sector before they set up TCS 10 years ago.