INTERVIEWFANS
days on site. It’s all part of improving the customer journey.” Both men are determined that growth will not dilute CDL’s
culture. “The DNA of CDL today is excellent,” Dunn says. “People who join, stay. They feel part of a big family business. We don’t want to lose that. We want to keep growing but maintain the same culture we had when we were half the size.” Birkett agreed. “It’s not about getting support staff to work harder. It’s about building effi ciency in the systems. They shouldn’t feel any diff erent than they do today.”
What the future holds
Looking ahead, both men see opportunity in expanding geographically, deepening relationships with existing customers and entering new sectors. Dunn is clear that growth must be earned. “If a customer spends £100,000 with us today, we want them to spend £150,000. But to get that extra £50,000, we need to give them a reason to want to. With more interaction, I can fi nd out what they want, how they see things, and get more feedback.” They also want to strengthen CDL’s position in applied
projects. “We’re doing signifi cant projects now with big chillers and heat pumps,” Dunn says. “Darrel and the team have just secured a £2.6 million order for a hospital, and we want to expand that side of the business.” Residential heat pumps are another target, but not at the commodity end. “Social housing
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is a race to the bottom,” Dunn says. “We want the luxury, prestige side. We want to take time on a project, be helpful and give contractors the confi dence to take on projects they wouldn’t normally do.” Birkett adds that CDL’s digital presence is evolving rapidly. “People may have noticed it increasing recently. We’re moving into ecommerce and putting AI on our website, investing in more modern technology to support customers. We’ve been testing it for quite a while, and we’re hoping it enhances the customer journey.” Both men are clear about what success should look like a
year from now. “Not just success, but the speed at which we enable that success to come,” Birkett says. Dunn wants to see the company acting more as an adviser than a supplier. “We get amazing emails about our presales and postsales support. I want 100% of customers saying that, not 50%. I want us to be the people they trust to help deliver a project, not just supply a box.”
And that, ultimately, is the message they want customers to
hear. “We don’t want to be known as a supplier of equipment,” Dunn says. “We want someone to say, I’ve got a project, I’ll speak to CDL, and they’ll help me deliver it.” Birkett has the fi nal word: “We know we’re very good at what we do today, but we want customers to actually feel us getting better.”
www.acr-news.com • July 2026 17
“We want to increase our share of the market, and we’re passionate about the customer journey.”
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