Starting my working life at the sharpest of sharp ends – direct selling of capital equipment – provided me with first class customer relationship and professional sales skills, and most importantly resilience, and the ability to turn adversity into opportunity. I never say, “it can’t be done………”.
From an enthusiastic (if a little raw) trainee sales executive (the job title and go-faster Ford Cortina GL company car was everything at the time…………) to top UK salesperson in an international office equipment company in under two years, was a hard-fought accolade – and if I’m honest, an incredibly hard slog. I had the best sales training, mentoring and support to help me reach this goal; I enjoyed the experience, the team camaraderie and the ‘fame’, but I knew that selling at the sharp end wasn’t a lifetime ambition for me. I wanted to learn the art of marketing.
Heady days of advertising agencies in the Midlands.
I joined what was then the UK’s largest regional advertising group Harrison Cowley, where as a lowly research and account planning assistant I had the opportunity to work on some of the biggest spending B2B and B2C accounts of the time, names such as British Midland Airways, Midshires Building Society, Austin Rover, Wedgwood, Pirelli and GKN. Working in a tightly structured and hierarchical organisation taught me how things should be done. Strategy first, creative second. And, I believe this is true today. Without a proposition, you won’t have successful creative work.
Fast forward to the heady days of account handling in Birmingham’s most exciting creative hot shop, Solomon Oakley, a true hotbed of highly original creative work, first class design and superb copywriting, working with an inspirational team of outstanding marketing communicators. Because of our reputation, we attracted great clients. Yale Materials Handling, BRMB Radio, Tower Housewares, Raleigh Cycles, Reynolds Cycle Tube (world leaders), Scrivens Opticians, Lovell Homes, and Stoddard Carpets to name a few.
A couple of agencies later led me to a consultancy phase where I advised and developed sales, marketing and business development strategies for SMEs, international clients and start-ups, including launching a number of overseas headquartered companies into the UK, training and mentoring sales teams, setting up a UK distributorship for an overseas materials handling manufacturer, developing sales and marketing strategies and helping facilitate a management buy-out.
When everything came together……………..
At the beginning of 2019 I returned to Lundie Marketing to lead business development and extend our marketing services, was subsequently appointed managing director and in August 2019 bought the company. Re-naming it The Lunn Agency achieved a lifetime ambition and I am extremely proud to head a talented team and continue to deliver first class work.
Throughout my career I have created many innovative and successful marketing communications campaigns across all media and continually strive to deliver the very best. To be the best I can be and do the best I can do for my team, our clients, suppliers and supporters is a cornerstone of me and my business. So, I have truly walked the walk, so speak from a voice of experience and a wide-ranging skill set and expertise gained along the way.
Today we work with small-medium size manufacturers and distributors, trade federations, building products manufacturers, on-line retailers and environmentally focused companies. We help develop sales and marketing strategies, advise on business development and deliver practical, creative integrated marketing communications solutions in both digital and traditional space.
Me and my team are authentic, honest, transparent and hardworking and share a passion for delivering the best results with exceptional client service. If I were sitting on the client side of the table, I couldn’t ask for more than that!