[WRE UPDATE | BUSINESS]


A UK Perspective 2020


The 2020 Challenge: BY: WILL DUNN, PRESIDENT, LIFTING EQUIPMENT STORE USA


As the UK’s Lifting Equipment Store launches a U.S. operation, its leader shares the lessons learned from this tumultuous year.


has been a hugely challenging experience for everyone in our industry – and as a


UK supplier we have been through all of the highs and lows of Covid-19 across the pond. But after all of that, we are extremely excited to be launching a new US operation out of Houston Texas. Tere were times while we were in the depths of the UK’s lockdown that it seemed extremely unlikely that we would ever get to this point. But we survived – and I’m going to tell our story which should provide some useful insights into how we did it, and how we got through the experience stronger and ready to take on the US market.


DOWNSCALING AND FURLOUGH Make no mistake, COVID-19 really, really affected us. Business was booming, and then as soon as lockdown hit the UK, we went from 100 to zero – overnight. It came out of nowhere and no one was prepared. Te UK government introduced its furlough scheme, which we leaned on heavily. We furloughed nearly every member of staff, apart from my right-hand woman and myself. And we managed the company like that for about six weeks. As a business owner, it was fascinating, because I was


thrown back into the front line again. I was handling sales; I was answering the phone; I was answering the door; I was operating the forklift truck. It was where I’d started from, and it was good to get back to the basics and the work I used to do. It was amazing to see what we could achieve in a day


when we knew that we had to make ends meet – we had to survive.


And then, over the course of those six weeks, sales


returned, and we gradually brought people back as needed. Exports rose when the rest of the world started


76 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2020 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE


coming out of lockdown, so I brought my brother George back into the office to head up exports. And when the UK came out of lockdown, domestic sales suddenly rose, so we brought our UK sales staff back. What we found was that because many of our competitors were completely out of action, the market was desperate to buy, and so we were literally closing every single deal. Everyone who phoned up and who was in the market to buy – would buy. Often we’d hear people say ‘Oh my God, you’re open!’ when we picked up the phone. Te virus itself has created so many major concerns for our customers – and implementing new measures like extensive cleaning procedures, personal protective equipment and adjusted protocols has been essential to keep their workforces as safe as possible. But while these strategies are crucial to prevent the transmission of Covid-19, they have also introduced a host of additional concerns. For example, the social distancing guidelines that are


necessary to keep people safe have meant that individuals can be far more isolated when they work – which has in turn meant a greater chance of issues like repetitive strain injury from lifting heavy equipment alone. Now more than ever, people need suppliers who understand these concerns and who can provide useful advice.


TEAMWORK We hosted a weekly meeting on Microsoft Teams, which we had started using about two months before


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84