FEATURE Passing the torch:


Former editor Anne Hall on her time with ToolBUSINESS+HIRE


By RICHARD HOLLIS


How did you start out with ToolBUSINESS+HIRE? My husband Brian and I owned Airstream Communications Ltd, the business that started ToolBUSINESS+HIRE magazine, but initially I had little to do with it. We had a second magazine, Brushwork, which I worked on much more, so for a good while I really didn’t have much involvement with ToolBUSINESS+HIRE.


AFTER nine years at the helm of ToolBUSINESS+HIRE, former editor Anne Hall is stepping down, swapping print deadlines and subscription lists for the pleasures of a well-earned retirement.


We caught up with Anne at her beautiful West Sussex home to find out more about her time in the tool and construction equipment industry’s favourite magazine.


You must be feeling rather emotional ending your time with the magazine? Well, I am rather because I’d been editor for eight full years, as well as an editorial consultant for a ninth. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people who have helped me to grow the magazine into something I’m very proud of.


We also did a redesign to make it look


a bit more modern. I think that is something that needs to be done fairly often, to keep it in line with new technology and other magazines in the industry.


20


How did that come to change? In 2010, Brian and I divorced. He and I had to think about how we would manage financially, so we split the company in two. We had a dormant company called Airstream Business Communications which I took on. Brian wanted to move to North America, and since Brushwork was an international magazine, it seemed more sensible for him to take that while I took the UK-focused ToolBUSINESS+HIRE.


That must have been pretty overwhelming At first it was very stressful because I had never run a business before, or been an editor. I had always read a good deal and been reasonably good at writing, so I enjoyed the editorship, but the running of the business was more difficult and challenging.


Fortunately, I kept the staff who were hugely knowledgeable and helped me to settle into the role. With their help, and that of a friend who does business coaching, I took to being editor quite well - and then when my advertising manager, Christine, left I took on that role too. That was another big challenge as I had never done any selling either.


What was the most important thing you learned from your new role? Making connections is hugely important in B2B business, especially in an industry like ours. When I first started, Christine was


very well known and liked within the industry, so I came to know a lot of people through her. Shortly afterwards, Peter Brett retired from teaching and was able to spend more time coming to the shows, so I got to know people through him as well.


We always went to shows together because we felt it was important to be seen and show interest in the industry.


What would you say makes ToolBUSINESS+HIRE stand out in the industry? There were a couple of other, similar magazines which disappeared not long after I started with ToolBUSINESS+HIRE. I think that was partly to do with the fact that, although it’s a huge industry worldwide, the tool trade is still quite small and intimate in the UK.


The upside of this was that getting to know people was easy and being seen has made us quite popular. People liked the fact that we would feature their companies and talk about them.


I was always thinking about what would interest them, what they would like to read. I felt it was very important that people actually read the magazine; it’s very easy to lose sight of that and just concentrate on selling advertising. I always wanted it to be about the articles we did. I would often go off-piste a little bit and do features on women in the industry or the Youth Construction Trust – there’s always plenty to talk about, as this is a hugely important industry.


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