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A weekly business related podcast hosted by Nick Bramley CEO of IMPACTUS Group. Whilst Nick himself is an engaging Host, the Impact Sessions Podcast comes to life through the quality of the guests Nick is able to attract. Interviews with interesting, engaging and expert guests from all sorts of fields and sectors sharing their real world experiences on everything from; Sales Marketing Leadership Culture People Wellness & Well-Being Strategy Innovation Inspiration Customer Focus Communications PR Entrepreneurship Manufacturing Excellence Branding There is something for everyone and a new episode is released every Tuesday. Why not subscribe to automatically get your ”fix” and maybe a 5* review would be appropriate too? Thanks for your support for The Impact Sessions Podcast
Episodes
Monday Mar 21, 2022
Monday Mar 21, 2022
This is a Podcast steeped in great leadership, an unswerving focus on improving the customer experience and resilience of the highest order. One not to be missed.
Derren Gittins is Managing Director at Verplas, a UK based business, managing all of the same challenges as many over recent years, such as supply chain, transport costs, raw materials availability, the ups and downs of the pandemic, and much more.
But that is only the half of it......
Having taken on the role in October 2020, travelling from the Midlands to the South Coast of England and staying over for 4 days a week to get things going, he quickly found that he had a big culture shift to implement if he was to be successful with his vision and ambitions for the business.
The starting point was not brilliant, but you have to start somewhere.
He was looking to build a successful, competitive business that truly put the customer at the heart of the experience, driving change through staff engagement and setting new standards across the team, all especially important in early challenging circumstances caused by the pandemic.
But culture takes time......
Then BANG, just as he is re-structuring his team, implementing improvements to IT, assessing and re-thinking the customer journey through the Investors in Customers programme, and still managing day-to-day pandemic challenges, another THUNDERBOLT hits.
We won't spoil the reveal, but it is safe to say that Derren must have felt like he had run over at least two or three black cats and broken several mirrors for him to be dealt the particular cards that came his way in 2021.
This is another inspiring podcast episode of leadership, resilience, trust in his team, focus, re-thinking EVERYTHING and getting the job done.
We challenge you not to be inspired by Derren's sheer force of nature and drive to succeed in the face of genuine adversity.
Have a listen or watch and as ever, feedback is always welcome.
Contact Details
Derren Gittins
Managing Director, Verplas Ltd
Tel - +44 (0) 1202 825898
Email - derren.g@verplas.co.uk
Web - www.verplas.co.uk
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/derren-gittins-2b5b5139
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
James Steptoe is Global Sales Director at Puretech Process Systems Ltd.
Sounds like a great role, plenty of travel to exotic destinations (and some not so exotic ones), developing relationships with customers and distributors across the world, attending exhibitions, networking, carrying out negotiations, and building an international sales funnel.
So, you start the job as Global Sales Manager in Q3 2019 and get ready to go.......
You have your strategy, your plan, your passport and your inoculations, and probably much more up your sleeve too.
But oh wait, we have a global pandemic to contend with less than 6 months into the role and all bets are off.......
But the role still needs you to deliver global sales growth - but now, without leaving your chair.
This is a great podcast episode, offering insights into how James adapted his approach, developed his role in new ways and new directions and still delivered on the aspirations he had for the business when he took on the job of Global Sales Manager pre-pandemic.
He must have done something right because he is now Global Sales Director and Puretech Process Systems continues to go from strength to strength, growing existing customer business, adopting new territories, with new customers and distributors and a building growing team to support them.
What's more, James has recently been back on a plane - so the world is good again.
This is a great episode covering change, resilience, adaptation, creativity, risk management, successful relationship building, global sales success and much more.....
One not to be missed. Feedback as always is most welcome.
Contact Details
James Steptoe, Global Sales Director, Puretech Process Systems Ltd
Tel - +44 (0) 7971 743484
Email - jsteptoe@puretech.uk.com
Web - www.puretech.uk.com
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/james-steptoe-41098b40
Sunday Nov 14, 2021
Sunday Nov 14, 2021
An insightful Podcast hosted by Nick Bramley, featuring Chris Shanks, Head of Sales & Andrew Vincent, CEO of QUICKBLOCK, a Glasgow based business that helps clients to create temporary, semi-permanent and permanent structures using the QUICKBLOCK product range.
Sectors embracing this sustainable, environmentally friendly, 100% recycled and recyclable building material include;
- Landscaping
- Agriculture & Land Management
- Light Construction
- Events
- Hospitality
- Civil Engineering
- Many More.......
If you can imagine it, you can build it, and rebuild it if necessary, make a permanent structure with QUICKBLOCK.
From a temporary storage unit or shed, to a smoking shelter, from event and hospitality furniture - lecterns, registration desks, stage areas etc, to landscape features, retaining walls and the like, this really is an amazing product.
In the Podcast, we also discuss COP26, hosted in Glasgow and focusing on many of the conversations that QUICKBLOCK are having with their own fast-growing customer base.
A really interesting listen or watch.
Hope you enjoy........
Contact Details
Chris Shanks Head of Sales
Email - chris.shanks@quickblock.uk
Tel - +44 (0) 7553 911207
Andrew Vincent CEO
Email - andrew.vincent@quickblock.uk
Tel - +44 (0) 7870 840011
Web - www.quickblock.uk
Tuesday May 18, 2021
Tuesday May 18, 2021
This is Episode 52 of The Impact Sessions Podcast and we are about to take a break. So, how do you leave (for now) on a high with an awesome mid-season finale?
Simple - you invite on a truly inspirational, engaging and irrepressible guest who will 100% inspire your audience.
Meet Miriam Dervan, Executive Chair of MD Group, founding Trustee of a new Education Foundation supporting mental health in schools and Author of "To Be An Entrepreneur - Just Get On With It" - Amazon details in the notes below.
Miriam is a genuine Entrepreneur, although had something of an accidental start to her entrepreneurial career.
Whilst she is likely to have been successful at whatever she turned her hand and her passion to, her career in and around the sector in which she now thrives all started with her taking an initial 2 week temporary office job at the National Pharmacology Institute in Dublin (only after great persistence from a recruiter).
Her now, hugely successful business, MD Group now employs over 160 staff in 6 global offices, serving many of the world’s leading Pharmaceutical and Life Science businesses with a range of innovative services.
- How did she start?
- What was it like taking on her first staff members
- Why does she want to inspire other women business owners & entrepreneurs?
- Where does her passion for the Foundation come from?
- Were they ever any doubts?
These and other topics are covered in a really high-paced episode.
In recent years Miriam has also established an Educational Foundation to fund the appointment of mental health professionals into schools across the UK & Ireland - big plans for a big subject.
She is a truly inspiring and inspirational guest with the unique storytelling skill of a fabulous Irishwoman. Miriam is great value and a great listen or watch....
We hope that you will love this episode and that it is a fitting mid-season finale for you to enjoy.
Why not take this opportunity to give The Impact Sessions Podcast a nice 5* Review too - that would be greatly appreciated.
Contact Details
Miriam Dervan, Executive Chair
MD Group
Tel +44 (0) 7811 167848
Email - miriam.dervan@mdgroup.com
Web - www.mdgroup.com
LinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/in/miriamdervan-mdgroup
Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784520934/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_glt_fabc_EYZAMTPD8NTXTF93Y2C2
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
So, you start a business, you grow your business, you expand your customer base and you continue on a successful path and upward trajectory, but what's next?
Well, at some stage, you might want to consider selling the business as an exit strategy, but this can be complex, fraught with stress and there are a myriad of options to confuse and potentially confound too.
Which option might be right for you, and how do you know?
Amongst the many potential pitfalls could be the absolute loss of the culture you have previously invested life, soul, blood, sweat and tears into, or the stripping of some of the assets, the decimating of your former employee team, or the swallowing of the business into a much bigger organisation who cannot wait to absorb the brand......
So what CAN it be like and what IS IT like to be the "acquired" and indeed the "acquirer"?
To explore both sides of the "Business Buying & Business Selling Equation", we meet Peter Rowlands, Senior VP of Indutrade UK who have a positive and on-going business acquisition programme, as Indutrade, having acquired over 200 businesses globally in over 30 years of trading, and Paul Connor, Managing Director of Ellard, acquired by Indutrade UK over 3 years ago.
Whether interested in buying and selling businesses or not, this is a fascinating episode that covers discussions around areas such as;
- Running a Successful, Attractive Business
- Culture, Vision, Values
- Collaboration
- Investment for Growth
- Effective Business Management
- Financials
- And much more....
Two great guests sharing their take on what it is like to be in the mix when offers are made and a sale is a great option. What happens before, during and crucially, afterwards......
The discussion might just surprise you.
Another great episode of The Impact Sessions Podcast. As always, feedback is most welcome.
Contact Details
Peter Rowlands Senior VP, Indutrade UK
Tel +44 (0) 161 241 1820
Email - peter.rowlands@indutrade.co.uk
Web - www.indutrade.co.uk
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/peter-rowlands-6b547a43
Contact Details
Paul Connor
Managing Director
Ellard Ltd
Tel +44 (0) 7968 254610
Email - paulc@ellard.co.uk
Web - www.ellard.co.uk
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/connorpaul/
Wednesday May 05, 2021
Wednesday May 05, 2021
The Impact Sessions Podcast Reaches a Milestone Today - Our 50th Episode......
Thanks to all of my previous excellent guests, those that are regular and supportive subscribers, getting their fix every Tuesday and also to the occasional listener or viewer. Your collective support is, and remains most welcome and appreciated.
So, to celebrate our special episode, what better way to do it than with a beer - or more accurately, by meeting a legend in the world of brewing in Yorkshire - Kate Balchin, Director of Sales, Marketing & Export at Wold Top Brewery.
Wold Top was one of the first, most successful (and popular) breweries that was spawned out of farming diversification just after the turn of the millennium. On this celebratory episode, we discuss areas such as;
- How & why brewing came about at Wold Top Farm?
- Why the natural resources at the Farm made this something of a no-brainer decision?
- Growing from a micro-brewery servicing local hostelries to a brand beloved in places like Italy.
- Scaling up and diversifying into a bottle-led future - helping the business during the COVID crisis.
- Choosing names for the beers - is it scientific or something else, and who chooses?
- Surprisingly quick production - from raw ingredients to the cask, keg or bottle
- The future of Wold Top as a destination & hospitality venue in its own right.
- And more........
Why not get a bottle of Wold Gold, Wold Top Bitter, Scarborough Fair IPA, Helo Velo, Headland Red or even a Marmalade Porter, sit back, crack the bottle open and listen or watch this special episode of The Impact Sessions Podcast - Wold Top beers are available in many local supermarkets, Farm Shops, Restaurants, many Yorkshire pubs (on draft) or from the Wold Top website - details below.....
You will not be disappointed. You do not grow to be a successful brewery in a very competitive market if you don't brew excellent beers!
Also, if you like a Beer Festival, why not check out the Wold Top Big Sky Beer Festival at the end of August - www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk/products/44/big-sky-beer-festival-2021
Enjoy this episode and thanks Kate for being a brilliant guest for this 50th Podcast Special.
Contact Details
Kate Balchin, Director of Sales, Marketing & Export
Wold Top Brewery
Tel +44 (0) 1723 892222
Email - katebalchin@woldtopbrewery.co.uk
Website - www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katebalchin/
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
The “Caged Animal” in Question in This Week’s Impact Sessions Podcast Title is Mona Norman, Managing Director of Brand Yorkshire and latterly Fogal & Barnes - (More on That Shortly).....
Mona is one of life’s “people people”, who operates a fantastic Networking & Conference Business, hit hard, like many in the pandemic.
She loves her members and loves the dynamics of her regular networking and annual conference live events. So if you can’t organise face-to-face live events, how else can you keep energised and focused in a COVID19 crisis, when virtual networking just isn’t cutting the mustard?
Obviously, you open a Fine Jewellery retail store - Fogal & Barnes. After all, the High Street has been untouched by all of this hasn’t it?
Oh wait!
This is a great episode exploring the energy and passion of a genuine relationship builder - coming through the pandemic one step at a time and backing her instincts for doing the right thing.
We even have an intervention from Mona’s dog!
Fogal & Barnes after a recent re-opening is going from strength to strength, helping people to celebrate life-changing events such as engagements and weddings, and much more BUT THE BIGGEST NEWS IS THAT BRAND YORKSHIRE NETWORKING IS BACK, THE BRAND YORKSHIRE OCTOBER CONFERENCE IS BACK & MONA IS BACK.....
It was great to explore the return of COVID-safe networking, the ambitions for an October socially distanced but large-scale Conference and even what (if anything) will replace the handshake when we can all meet again?
It really is a fabulous session with a warm, charismatic, passionate, people person ready to get back out there and inspire some of the Yorkshire Region’s most dynamic businesses.
We know that you will enjoy it, but feedback, as always would be most welcome.
Contact Details
Mona Norman Managing Director - Brand Yorkshire
Managing Director - Fogal & Barnes Fine Jewellery
Tel +44 (0) 7748 117977
Email - mona@brandyorkshire.com
Website - www.brandyorkshire.com
Website - https://fogalandbarnes.com
LinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/in/monanorman8
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
How does a Secondary School DT Teacher develop a product to reduce stress, improve wellbeing & wellness and create a calming influence for its users - all supporting the scientifically robust technique of “conscious breathing”?
On this episode of The Impact Sessions Podcast, we meet Michael Crinnion. Working with Richard Hall and the team at Pd-m International in Thirsk, he has created Luma³.
Not only is Luma³ a beautifully designed, tactile piece of desk furniture, but it genuinely improves stress management and wellbeing for its users through a simple but effective light source that encourages calmness through conscious breathing.
- No intrusive buzzing
- No shaming reminders to do something - we know which Apps we mean
- No commitment to reaching targets
- Just a calming, soothing reminder to do some conscious breathing
- Brilliantly simple, brilliantly effective
- And it works.......
And YOU can even get involved.
Michael is launching a Kickstarter Funding Opportunity in early May (4th). Do you want to invest in a product that has a very bright future - apologies for the awful pun!!!!
Full details of Luma³ can be found here - https://luma3.uk/
Another great Impact Sessions Podcast episode that we hope you will enjoy. Feedback is always welcome....
Why not subscribe to get your usual fix every Tuesday and check out the back catalogue too?
Contact Details
Michael Crinnion
Luma³
Tel - +44 (0) 7936 739386
Email - michael@mindbodygoals.uk
Website - https://luma3.uk/
Monday Apr 19, 2021
Monday Apr 19, 2021
One of IMPACTUS Group's longest-standing and most valued clients, SES Engineering Services is celebrating 60 years in business on Monday 19th April.
That is a massive milestone and as part of the celebrations, we recorded this Special Edition Podcast.
We meet the longest serving man, Dave Stoughair - nearly 47 years service and still counting, the longest serving woman, Sarah Jones - who started way back in 1982, the Managing Director, Steve Joyce, himself no slouch in the longevity stakes with 27 years service and one of their very latest, and youngest recruits, Megan Bailey who only joined the business in October 2020.
This is a genuine, heartfelt, relaxed and humorous celebration of SES (and the world of work) through the ages in support of their 60th Birthday.
Whilst, as you may imagine, there are obviously a number of internal reference points that will only resonate with those involved in the business, there are a lot of interesting and fun exchanges that look at all sorts of areas and reminiscences that hopefully will be enjoyable to a wider audience.
Things like;
- Drilling holes through concrete with hand-tools before power tools were common on site
- The Boss calling at your house to tell you where to report to tomorrow - long before WhatsApp
- The Post-Room, a long-extinct staple of the office environment, long before email took over
- Carbon paper and the blue handed colleagues
- Smoking in the workplace - what the hell was that all about?
- Early faxes that just said "Hello" and yet still fascinated the recipients
- Sharing one PC with dozens of colleagues - and learning how to switch it on
- Massive mobile phones and even bigger battery packs
- Interview suits
- And much more......
We even give a shout out to the heinous Findus Crispy Pancake and the £100,000 Findus French Bread Pizza.
All of this is punctuated by a few "pop classics" (plus Maria Carey)!
Come on, you know you want to listen or watch!
It was great fun to record, full of great stories and a great insight into SES Engineering Services and also the wider workplace over at least the last 47 of those fabulous 60 years.
If you are of a certain age (or even at the start of your career), this will either give you a warm glow of reminiscence or make you incredulous at how people used to work.
As Megan says, she would "die without her mobile phone". She may well have died trying to carry a mobile phone battery pack the size of a small filing cabinet in the early 90's.
Hope you enjoy!
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
We could have called this week's episode of The Impact Sessions Podcast - "How to Run a Successful Manufacturing Business Without Setting Foot In The Premises for Over a Year"!
On this episode, we meet both Neil Matthews, Managing Director and Chris Shanks, Sales Manager of Irvine Springs, a high-performance springs manufacturer based, not surprisingly in Irvine in Ayrshire, Scotland.
Well, that's where the business (and Chris) is based, but Managing Director Neil is based in Redditch, in the West Midlands of England. That's over a 5 hour drive and 300 miles away......
Since the global pandemic hit, and since the UK has had an ever-changing set of restrictions, many of which differed between England & Scotland, it has simply not been possible for Neil to be on-site, so Chris has had to take on the local mantle - or has he?
Chris has also worked predominantly from home throughout the pandemic, and yet Irvine Springs has not only survived, but has come through and started 2021 in particular like a train.
Are there lessons here for others?
On another great Impact Sessions Podcast, we discuss, amongst other things;
- How Irvine Springs developed a sales and marketing approach and action plan during tight restrictions that allowed them to come out fighting in 2021.
- What being part of a bigger business group (Irvine Springs is an Indutrade business) has brought to the table in these challenging times?
- Managing and leading remotely.
- Creating a culture of trust and "can do".
- Lessons learnt.
- What the future holds for a UK Manufacturer and why embracing the likes of "Sustainability Development Goals" is a key to future success.
- And much more......
This was the first Podcast that either Neil or Chris had recorded and they were great!
Give it a watch or listen for some inspiring content and conversation. Feedback as always is most welcome.
Contact Details
Neil Matthews, Managing Director, Irvine Springs
Tel - +44 (0) 7985 281706
Email - neil.matthews@irvinesprings.com
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-matthews-7a413644/
Chris Shanks, Sales Manager, Irvine Springs
Tel - +44 (0) 1294 279396
Email - chris.shanks@irvinesprings.com
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisshanks1/
Website - https://irvinesprings.com/