Damien Montagne, European sales manager at Loadhog Ltd., has been named The Manufacturer’s employee of the month December-January 2015/16.
What is your role and what are your main responsibilities?
The sole purpose of my position is to drive sales of the company’s innovative reusable packaging range in Europe and the Middle East, with France, Germany and both south and central Europe the focus presently.
This involves regular telephone and email contact plus frequent visits to the relevant areas to sustain strong relationships with existing customers and to establish the same with new ones.
What are the key technical skills you use?
Undoubtedly my ability to communicate in German and Italian, and of course in English and French, has contributed enormously to enabling me to cement relationships with many overseas customers, and to understand their requirements.
What personal characteristics help you in your role?
Many of my colleagues, friends, and even my wife, say that I am charming, personable and pleasant and who am I to argue?
I am sure these important personal characteristics – unquestionably down to my Gallic heritage – are invaluable when building worthwhile customer relationships.
What do you consider to be your biggest personal success at the company so far?
No hesitation here! I am extremely proud that European sales have grown from scratch, since I joined the company to today, where there are now three people involved in driving Loadhog sales in a number of regions.
There is one salesperson dedicated to business in France and another in central Germany – plus me! Interest is growing fast in the Pally, the Loadhog Lid, the Attached Lid Container and the HogBox.
What are the most rewarding parts of your job?
The fact that Loadhog is an employee-owned company makes me a shareholder along with all my colleagues and we are all pushing in the same direction.
I am empowered to have a say in how things are run within the company and important decisions are made quickly.
Understandably securing an order is always a major highlight for me and thankfully this is happening more and more often.
Do you have a career ambition?
My ambition is to maintain my total focus on making a major contribution towards building Loadhog into a world-class manufacturer, which continues to launch even more innovative products.
