CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.

Tom Morrison-Jones on having a rudder and adjusting your course until you find yourself where you're supposed to be.

December 19, 2022 Andy Follows Episode 95
CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.
Tom Morrison-Jones on having a rudder and adjusting your course until you find yourself where you're supposed to be.
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Tom is the owner of Ecurie Esprit Car Storage, a business he established ten years ago in Stratford upon Avon in the UK to provide superlative car storage, movement and improvement for investors, collectors and enthusiasts.

Before founding Ecurie Esprit he spent time as a corporate employee and as a consultant. 

In our conversation, we discuss Tom's childhood exposure to all things automotive and how that gave him a sense of direction that informed his early life choices. He then openly shares the challenges, opportunities and realisations that caused him to adjust his course along the way. 

Some golden nuggets in Tom's story include examples of: 

The benefits of knowing the direction you want to go in. 

Differentiating yourself from the competition or avoiding them altogether. 

Sales based on genuine solutions, not charisma. 

Gaining credibility at a young age with senior B2B decision makers. 

Responding to external events. 

Finding yourself in what feels like exactly the right place. 

 

You can contact Tom via Instagram or email: tom@ecurieesprit.co.uk 

 

If you enjoy listening to my guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.  

 

Instagram @careerviewmirror  

Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk 

 

Episode recorded on  9 December, 2022 

Tom Morrison Jones:

When I was a tiny boy, I'd have all these cars lined up perfectly on display in their own place. No one was allowed to touch them. My mom says now it makes sense. This is what you were supposed to have done.

Aquilae:

Welcome to Career-view Mirror the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers to share insights to help you with your own journey. Here's your host, Andy Follows

Andy:

Hello listeners, Andy here. Thank you for tuning in. In this episode, we are celebrating the career to date of Tom Morrison Jones. Tom is the owner of a Ecurie Esprit Car Storage, a business he established 10 years ago in Stratford upon Avon in the UK to provide superlative car storage, movement and improvement for investors, collectors and enthusiasts. Ecurie Esprit's strapline is Every Car as if Our Own, which perfectly describes the care and attention to detail lavished on cars in their custody. Tom's career journey started in the corporate world when he joined Rover Group as a graduate. Once established there, he enjoyed success in corporate sales before moving to Lexus to take on national responsibility for fleet sales. He was lured back to Rover Group in his mid 20s by the opportunity to handle export sales to a quarter of the globe. The demise of Rover Group created some challenges and opportunities that would see him embarking on a full time MBA programme before launching his consultancy Nudge Advisory. He embraced the autonomy of self employment during a series of consulting projects before recognising his desire to build a more sustainable and scalable business. In our conversation, we discuss Tom's childhood exposure to all things automotive, and how that gave him a sense of direction that informed his early life choices. He then openly shares the challenges, opportunities and realisations that caused him to adjust his course along the way. I've known Tom since his early days at Rover Group and love his humility and dry sense of humour. It's my pleasure to share his story with you. Like everything Tom does it's deliberate and measured and contains some valuable nuggets of wisdom. I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. If you enjoy listening to my guests' stories, please could you do me a favour and click the Follow button in the app that you use to listen to your podcasts. This helps our podcast grow so that we can continue to share the wealth of experience that our guests have amassed during their careers so far. Hello Tom, and welcome. And where are you coming to us from today?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Hi, Andy. Good to hear your voice. I'm calling you from Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire in England.

Andy:

Beautiful. So Stratford on Avon Shakespeare's hometown, and also Warwickshire, famous in the automotive industry, a lot of automotive talent in Warwickshire. Lovely to have you. Thank you very much for joining. Where did your journey start Tom? Where were you born?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Well, I suppose my journey started before I was born, which is an unusual thing to say perhaps. But I was born in Epsom down in Surrey, which is southwest of London, I would say. But really, my career was influenced heavily by what my father did. And my father was a proprietor of a franchise dealership and a petrol station in a place called Leatherhead in Surrey. And from that moment, I guess, if my future was being shaped before I was even here

Andy:

Right, well you've leapt because I always ask my guests what roles they had visibility of, what did they see their parents doing and clearly, you've already recognised that was a huge factor in how you would start out. So you were born in Leatherhead, or no, you were born in Epsom. And your father was the owner of a of a franchise, can we say which brand it was?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So he had a number of franchises over the years, I guess, when he was of a school age, he was asked by his father, what are you going to do with yourself? And all he knew was he didn't want to do what his father did, which was an accountant. And really anything else was an option. And it just so happened that he got a job as a car salesman in a showroom in Surrey, and it really went on from there. So he did a number of years working for someone else as a car salesman, and eventually he decided he wanted to go alone, and he managed to take on a petrol station at the time, which had some workshops around it, and over the years, he developed that and created his own showroom, was independent and took on franchises over the years. So he had at various moments as I recall, Alfa Romeo, and Hyundai

Andy:

I'm thinking that's going to play quite a part in your career journey. So not just the direction you went in, but also the entrepreneurial nature of your journey as well and I'm going to be curious to ask you because you've been in the corporate world, and now have your own business, have had a number of, or you have business in different areas. So I'm interested to when we get to that point. Before let's let's do next. So you saw your dad in that world, that was hugely influential. What about mum? What was her role?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So Mum had a number of jobs. But I guess the one that's most relevant to this conversation is, she worked at the same garage at one point as my father, serving up petrol back in the days where you didn't have to get out of your own car, is done for you.

Andy:

Is that how they met? Or

Tom Morrison Jones:

No, I think they would have met before that. And then latterly, mom helped with the family business when my father went on his own.

Andy:

Right. Another area I like to know about is any brothers and sisters?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yes, one sister, who is very much interested in something else. Horses rather than cars, so there was no crossover there in terms of career.

Andy:

Okay, is she older or younger?

Tom Morrison Jones:

She's a couple of years older.

Andy:

Right. And how much pressure was there on you? Was it this idea that you're going to follow in your father's footsteps, was that expected or did that just happen because you saw it and thought that look quite interesting.

Tom Morrison Jones:

I guess it's just what I was exposed to. So from a very young age, I'm thinking possibly under 10 years old, whenever a car would fail it's MOT at my father's garage, it would find its way home, be given to me to tinker with and drive around some fields we had at our home in Surrey. So from the age of 10, when other kids were doing whatever it was they were doing, I was doing something different, which was usually driving or tinkering with with a car of some description. So that interest just shaped me going forward. And I suppose along the way, I saw some of the challenges that my father had in business, and it shaped how I wanted to develop my career. So I decided from quite an early age that I would pursue working for a manufacturer rather than a dealership. That's how that happened.

Andy:

Right. So you were informed by what you'd seen, some of the challenges he faced. Before we dive into you getting into the manufacturer world, a couple of things. So you had the opportunity, these cars that failed MOTs at your dad's garage, presumably they failed, they were like, they weren't going back to a customer after you'd driven them around the the fields, they were, they were ones that were terminal cases, if you like, so they came back. So you had that and you had land you had somewhere where as a 10 year old, you have private land that you could drive on, which is obviously a key component of you being able to do that.

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, I was very fortunate. We had 10 or 15 acres of land next to the house. And I used to drive round and round and round all day, to the point I mean, this this was decades ago, but if you went back there now you'd still see the ruts. So yeah, we had a rule. And Mum was was more interested in forcing this rule. And my dad just because he was at work, I guess more, but the rule was 10 miles an hour maximum. And of course, this was like, open to massive interpretation. Sometimes the speedometer might not be quite right, but

Andy:

or even connected.

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, you could easily get up to 40 miles an hour which is pretty cool at that age. So yeah, some cars lasted more than others. Least successful was a MINI, I guess, because of ground clearance and that lasted about a week. More successful would have been probably Japanese cars, a bit more robust and reliable. Some of them went on for a long time. But I got through probably twenty cars over the years before they had to go to the scrapyard in the sky.

Andy:

It's fun to hear about and to imagine. There's also a point though, to the question which, or an observation, which is as well as the roles that we're exposed to that we get an opportunity to see people doing and might be influenced by, there are circumstances. So there's this amazing story of how Bill Gates I think the school he was at had access to this amazing computer in the very early days and it was simply that that had such an impact on him having very early exposure, and being able to get hours and hours and hours coding, years before other people did. And so there are elements that just struck me as a parallel that you had space where as a 10 year old you could enjoy driving a car. It'd be even more relevant if you'd become a Formula One star or something.

Tom Morrison Jones:

Well, that that would be another conversation we would be having wouldn't it because I was very much into that. So my view of life back then was I will be a racing driver. That's what I was doing around that field at the age of 10, to 15. And that led me into karting which I did for a number of years. But eventually, reality struck, and we had to find something which involved earning money rather than spending it.

Andy:

So how did you progress from driving the cars around the field to getting a cart? Was that something you bought yourself? Or was there support from dad to do that? How did that happen?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So for some birthday present, I seem to remember I was taken to Brands Hatch, I must have been about 15, maybe a bit younger, and I was given the chance to drive a racing car around Brands Hatch, Ford Fiesta tin top, and formula first single seater car. And at the end of that day, we were put in touch with somebody that would help us go karting. We were connected with a chap who supplied us with chassis and engines and off we went. We learned an awful lot along the way. So we didn't stay with that chap for long, and we ended up with a race team, trying to do our best around the circuits of Great Britain.

Andy:

And you say you finally came to the conclusion to stop, tell me a little bit about how that happened and what your thoughts were then

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think it's quite a common situation when you reach sort of 20 years old, something like that, you have less time, and you develop other interests, and you need to make your own way in life. And yeah, those were things combined meant that if I continued, which I had the option to do, it wouldn't be as serious as it had been. And therefore, the way I am I guess, is whatever I'm doing, I'm either doing it properly or not at all, because I don't feel I can do it justice if I'm doing it part time. So the decision was made, get on with career and give up hobby.

Andy:

Right. So you saw it as a hobby, it was it was no longer at some point between being a 10 year old driving cars round and now and 20 year old, you'd realised I'm not gonna make it as a racing driver.

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. The odds were too highly stacked against me I would have said. Possibly I just wasn't good enough, but I would never admit that.

Andy:

Okay, couple of things before we get further into your career, or get into your career. One is as a student, how were you as a student? How would your teachers have described you? Quite single minded, probably had more sense of what I wanted to become than others around me. So from an early age I knew what it was I wanted to do if I wasn't going to be a racing driver and how I needed to get some experience from an early age in order to set up my sort of first step into the corporate world when my studies finished. So as an example, I would be working for no money with companies that I wanted to forge relationships with. And then it became much easier when it was time to start properly for them to take the known quantity than someone that was applying cold to them. That's an absolute gem, Tom. So you were working for nothing for companies you wanted to build a relationship with so that when the time came, it was a lot easier decision for them to make to bring you on board in a paid capacity. How old were you then doing that?

Tom Morrison Jones:

I guess I must have been doing that from 17 18.

Andy:

And the same model applies if you're already in a job and you're in a corporate world, go and help people, you know, find ways to help people who you're interested in connecting with who you recognise, you had that intentionality about where you were going you knew the direction you wanted to go in which is a massive advantage. It makes a lot of decision making easier, it gives you the motivation to lean in at school, helps you choose the subjects you want to do. And, as you did, helps you find people, identify organisations that are going to be part of your future potentially that you can connect with, brilliant you work for them for nothing. But you can do that in a corporate organisation, have the same intentionality and find people who you want to build a relationship with and go and offer to help them and you'll hear some of our other guests, Brian Allen springs to mind from Hire Car as an example of that. Okay, so thanks for sharing about school sounds like you were very disciplined, very knew what knew what why you were there and what you're going to get out of it. So when it came towards the the end of your school days, where were you at there in terms of qualifications and what next steps look like for you?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So end of school, I think because I applied myself so well during school, my teachers had very high expectations for me at the A level stage, to the point where one was pushing me to apply to go to Harvard. In the end, I didn't achieve the grades that he wanted. But it was still sufficient to get me to where I wanted to be. I think maybe in that situation, I just, the pressure of the actual exam went against me, maybe there was a little bit too much expectation on my side, maybe, maybe not. So I came out of school with three B's at A level, back then it was normal only to take three, I think now you take about 10. And I wanted to do something to do with retailing of cars, and that sort of traces back to family roots. Whether or not I was with the manufacturer or dealership, I just felt there was a plethora of business courses available. And I didn't want to be one of many with the same degree at the end of it. So it steered me towards a retail management degree, which was slightly different. There were only three places offering that course. And I just thought it'd be a way of differentiating myself a little bit, as it was business but with an emphasis on retail. So I did a four year course sandwich course that required one year in industry. And that year in industry was done with what was then called Rover Group, which at the time would have been Land Rover, MIMI, MG and Rover. BMW came on the scene a bit after that. And I'd already worked at Rover dealerships for nothing, and with the OEM for nothing during my school holidays, in order to set that up. So it was quite a seamless transition after I got my grades in retail management to go in as an undergraduate for what at that time was the largest car company manufacturer in the country.

Andy:

Right. And did they sponsor you through your university? Or was it more that it allowed you to do the sandwich piece, and then they took you on as a graduate afterwards?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So there was no sponsorship, but I believe I did receive a salary during the sandwich element.

Andy:

Yeah, but your placement was already sorted. You knew where you were going to go. So you weren't scrambling around trying to find somewhere to go when it came to the third year

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right yeah, although it was clearly heading in the direction that I would work for them as a postgraduate, there was no guarantee of that it was left open. But I always felt if you turn up as a postgraduate having done a year and a half with them, you stand yourself a much better position than someone that's applying as an known quantity.

Andy:

Yeah. So you really had the benefit of this, knowing fairly early on what you wanted to do and being able to plan some steps in advance.

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think that one of the biggest challenges for someone seeking to develop their career must be do they have a rudder. If you don't have a rudder, where are you heading? You have no target to aim for. It must be impossible. Fortunately, that that was never really a concern to me.

Andy:

No. I note, though, that you've moved that rudder in some ways on the journey. So I look forward to hearing about some of those transitions when you sort of move the rudder in a slightly different direction. Albeit still with a very clear automotive thread running through the whole journey. When you finished university, and you started as a post grad at Rover, how was that? Was it living up to your expectations that you'd done all this planning for?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, I loved it. The only frustration I had was the speed at which you could develop. So in a big corporate environment, they want to expose you to many different things within the company, because that may lead you in certain directions. But if you have a clear idea of what you want to do in that business, and you want to get on with it, there was actually some frustration, because I wanted to move on to the next level, but people felt oh he's too young, no one's done that before at that age. And I was like, well that doesn't mean it can't happen. So

Andy:

That's your problem.

Tom Morrison Jones:

So there was a period of frustration, but generally, I loved it, got to where I wanted to be, but it just took a year or so longer than I wanted.

Andy:

So specifically, where did you want to be?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Well, I wanted to be the guy that went out representing the company looking after relationships, either with dealers, and or customers. So that took probably 18 months longer than I wanted, but I guess it wasn't for me to decide when that would happen.

Andy:

So really interesting, because that's the first sign of the sort of the downside of knowing where you want to be, is that becoming part of the graduate intake where you're there's a programme that's designed to expose you to lots of bits of the company so that you can find something that suits you or that is a good fit, you already knew, knew that bit and found that bit actually, rather than being enjoyable, it was a frustration. That's quite an interesting take. And also the very specific nature of what you wanted to do, presumably you'd seen you'd been in retail, you'd seen your dad's businesses, you'd seen that you mentioned you'd seen the challenges he faced so you didn't want to be on the dealer side, you want to be on the manufacturer side. And then you'd worked at Rover dealers for nothing in your early years. Is that where you saw the manufacturer representative coming in and thought that's the job I want to start with?

Tom Morrison Jones:

No, I think that related back to my father's business when I would be exposed to the visiting representative of whatever franchise he had, and for some reason, I was just taken with it. So I kind of pursued it.

Andy:

And how old were you when you first got let out? Was it to visit retailers, or was it to visit corporate customers first.

Tom Morrison Jones:

It was a strange situation because I joined as an undergraduate in that sandwich year with Rover Group. And some thing happened during that year, which involved what was called an area business manager who looked after the dealerships moving on internally, so there was actually a vacancy. And it was unexpected, and there was no one there to fill it. So I said well, can I not do it? Because I felt like I was doing it already. And after they stopped laughing at me they agreed to it because I'd actually already developed relatio nship with the dealers in question because it was a project I was working on with them. So they let me do it. So I was happy as Larry at that point. But then when I actually rejoined as a postgraduate, I had to sort of put the brakes on because I wasn't allowed to go straight back into that role.

Andy:

Oh, right. So during the sandwich year during your placement year, you were working on a project with a group of dealers. And during that time, the area business manager responsible for them left suddenly. And you I can imagine them laughing, your the student here saying Well, should I do it? Absolutely love it.

Tom Morrison Jones:

The normal course of events would have been we'll give all those dealers to another area business manager and increase his workload. I sort of requested a different solution

Andy:

Yes, or we could give the or we could give them to the placement student. Okay, incredible initiative again in putting your hand up. But then it felt like a backward step when you joined as a postgraduate and you had to you couldn't just pick up where you'd left off.

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right. They sent me for a couple of months into the Landrover factory to put axles into Discoverys. It was very different, but I guess it exposed me to things I wouldn't have experienced before. So in hindsight, it was okay.

Andy:

Did you then get as a post grad your first opportunity was that with retailers?

Tom Morrison Jones:

It just so happened that it was more to do with corporate clients then, so fleet sales, as other people may know it better. So yeah, that was the first proper postgraduate role that I was given a corporate sales manager, which is where we met each other.

Andy:

Yes, indeed. So you joined the corporate sales team, and what was your area to begin with? Where did you start out there?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So I was looking after a wedge in the south west corridor of London, so Berkshire, Hampshire, that sort of area.

Andy:

Right. So is that when you took over for me was that then, was that the first?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah. So before then, I'd been a central role supporting corporate sales managers from the office. And then that led to a corporate sales manager role.

Andy:

Yeah, I had the sense that you weren't fresh into the team when you took over my patch. And how did you find representing the manufacturer?

Tom Morrison Jones:

I loved it absolutely loved it. It was quite a challenging time, especially towards the end with lots of shenanigans with BMW ownership and the strategy they wanted to pursue, that it exposed me to so many different people, up till then I was only exposed to dealers, and maybe at best that was 25 dealers , but now I had hundreds of customers potentially to sell cars to so it was very, very fulfilling.

Andy:

Did you enjoy the sales part? Well, I mean, obviously, you did. I'm just, I just want to pick up on that, Tom, because I like that you I don't think you come across as a sales guy. And I'm not a fan of the cliche about the gift of the gab and flashy salesmen and people's misconception of what a salesperson looks like, sounds like, what they do. It's sort of, I think completely outdated and not helpful. And here you are saying you really enjoyed having that opportunity to get out and meet hundreds of potential customers who you could sell cars to. But anyone listening to you on this will think well he didn't sound like a salesman, he's very softly spoken and, you know, measured and all these things. So does that resonate with you?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Definitely yeah, I would be immediately suspicious of the stereotypical salesman that you're referring to, I think he's having to sell something that's not required, in my opinion and he's relying on his charisma to mask over something that's inadequate. But no, I would see myself as someone that's trustworthy, that does what he says he would do, and would actually be trying to sell a solution. So if it didn't make sense to me, how would I expect anybody else to take it up. So a corporate sales manager, back then it was all about whole life costs and if you can produce a proposal, it shows that business will have cost savings by operating your vehicles over a period of time. But tick the other boxes about having something that's desirable and will attract staff because they want to have that company car and not a different one. That's what you're trying to achieve in that role. And I don't think any amount of typical car salesman flashing it is going to convince a fleet manager is take your product, it doesn't make sense.

Andy:

No, I am really delighted that you've shared that. And I'm wondering, then, another challenge that lots of people have, not just in this industry, but any situation where you're a young person coming into a role, where you're expected to build relationships with people who are senior, quite a bit senior, whether that's someone running a dealership, or somebody responsible for fleet purchases, or CFO or finance director in an organisation, if you're talking about, you know, selling multiples of vehicles, how did you have credibility? Because you would have been early 20s, at this point, talking to people a lot older, and did you consciously work on how to build credibility with them? Or do you think it was just your approach was so much into well, if this doesn't work for me, it's not going to work for you, I need to find a solution. What are your thoughts on that?

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think it was partly to do with making sure you had a credible proposition. And also having the knowledge. So for me, it was quite easy. Because I was so interested in the topic, I would spend a lot of time researching who I was speaking to, and what I wanted to propose. And it was it wasn't a chore. If I was selling something I wasn't interested in I mean, I wouldn't have lasted five minutes, because it would have been very obvious. I wouldn't have put the work in I wouldn't have understood all the issues, and I wouldn't have been clearly focused on it.

Andy:

Right. So you had a genuine curiosity to find out about the person you were going to be speaking with, their situation, the challenges they were facing, and to work out for yourself what a good solution would be

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, put yourself in their shoes. If I was in their shoes, and I was being asked to do something, what would it take for me to do it? Because if you can't convince yourself, how on earth are you going to convince anybody else.

Andy:

It's, it's so simple, isn't it? You make it sound so incredibly simple. Which, looking at it like that, it is. I think we overcomplicate things when we don't concentrate on what's the end in mind here and how to get there. Let me take a moment to tell you about our sponsor. Could you use some additional experience resources who can work alongside you and your team on a flexible basis to help you achieve your priorities? I started Aquilae in 2016. And since then, we've worked internationally with established automotive OEMs, EV startups, fintechs, and insurance companies to achieve their unique mobility goals. Aquilae team members are highly experienced senior leaders with complementary areas of expertise who've run businesses and divisions internationally in our industry. Because we've all had many years experience of operating in the industry ourselves, we don't just advise our clients on what to do. Instead, we tend to work alongside them delivering their specific projects. We're happy to develop strategy, and we're equally happy to then get involved delivering the plan. Mobility businesses are all about people, processes and technology. We leverage our Aquilae Academy for people development, and Aquilae Consulting for those wider business topics. To give you some examples of the sort of work we do through the Aquilae Academy, we work with CEOs and their first line to develop cohesive leadership teams. We create continuous learning environments for leadership development, we develop bespoke programmes to improve the performance of specific teams and we provide one to one coaching for high performing individuals. To give you some examples of the sort of work we do through Aquilae Consulting. We help create paperless digital end to end customer journeys for direct consumer finance and subscription models. We conduct strategic reviews. For example, one client asked us what's the best financial services structure for each market we operate in? We produce feasibility studies for new market entry, we advise on and support regulatory applications. We help design implement and monitor regulatory compliance procedures, we run tenders and vendor selection projects, we conduct end to end operational reviews to improve effectiveness and efficiency. If you're looking for some help with people or business topics, and you like the idea of having some additional very experienced resources, who can work flexibly alongside you, please get in touch with me for a conversation, you can email me directly at andy@aquilae.co.uk. Okay, let's get back to our episode. Can you tell us then a little bit about your journey at Rover and how that progressed and how it came to an end. And then what the transition was.

Tom Morrison Jones:

So Rover had changes of ownership whilst I was there from British Aerospace to BMW, and towards the end of the BMW ownership, it looked quite clear that the writing was on the wall, that BMW did not want to continue owning this group of brands. So I kind of preempted some big change that was going to happen in my view. And fortunately, the timing was right, I was offered the chance to go and do a very similar role but on a national basis, rather than a regional basis, for Lexus, which was quite a new brand in town under Toyota.

Andy:

And how did that opportunity come up? You say that opportunity, you were given that opportunity or it arose. How did that come about?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Quite simply, someone was poached by Toyota to join Lexus within the team I worked with at Rover, and then he had to develop his own team for Lexus. And he asked me to join him, I guess I must have done something right.

Andy:

So you had a good reputation with that individual and they brought you across to Lexus. And was that a difficult decision? Did you get a phone call from him saying, Do you want to come and join me? How did that work?

Tom Morrison Jones:

From memory, I think he told me before he left that he would be calling me. And sure enough, he did. So the timing just worked out very nicely. It was a hugely attractive brand and opportunity because it had been in the market for I don't know, maybe a decade, but as a very much a retail proposition. Big cars, thirsty cars, which would appeal to the owner of a business that was buying one car for themselves. But then at this time, they were bringing in a three series competitor called IS, which was their first foray into that segment. And it was gonna go from selling, let's say, 1000 cars a year in our country to over 10,000 cars. So it was a massive change which required people and processes and relationships with people they'd never even met before.

Andy:

Right. And you were then brought in with national responsibility for fleet sales for Lexus.

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah. So there were two of us. And the guy I worked with took on responsibilities more for contract hire companies, leasing companies, whereas I was more focused on the actual fleets themselves.

Andy:

And how did that progress? How did that role work out for you?

Tom Morrison Jones:

It was very different. But very good, because I was going from a situation where there would be more cars being produced and customers wanting to purchase them to a situation where allocations were constrained and we could sell more than we were allocated. And the proposition, rather than talking about discounts to make whole life cost work, a proposition was more about spreading your risk. So if you had 1000 BMW three series on your fleet, why wouldn't you take a couple of 100 Lexus, just to try and spread some of the risks when you come to dispose of them? So is was different way of selling a car, but a very interesting way, which didn't require any discounting.

Andy:

No, a bit more sophisticated, a bit more of an intelligent approach required. How long did you do that for Tom?

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think I must have done that for a year or two. And then the phone rang again. And Rover was under new ownership. And it had to get going very quickly with new owners who had a new strategy of being an independent company. So they offered me the chance to be an Export Manager for quarter of the globe, which at age having worked just in the UK, it was very tempting, especially as I had an emotional attachment, I guess with the company I first started with.

Andy:

What age were you then?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Gosh, I must have been in my mid 20s.

Andy:

Right. So what area were you given responsibility for?

Tom Morrison Jones:

We had Middle East, Africa and some of Latin America, and some random ones like anything that was an island, basically, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar. It was a vast area. And there were some established relationships from years gone by, but some of those relationships have been upended by BMW and needed to be revisited. So basically I had to create a distribution infrastructure across quarter of the planet pretty damn quick.

Andy:

Yeah, and this was under the ownership that came immediately after BMW?

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right, yeah. So it was appealing to someone of my age, because obviously there was risk involved. Anyone could see that. But I didn't really perceive it as a major problem, because if it didn't work out after a few years, what experience to gained at that age. I don't think anyone else would have that chance that I know of. So it was an easy decision.

Andy:

Yeah, a really interesting topic, balancing risk at an early age, you know, looking at your age profile, and what am I going to learn versus what's the risk I'm taking, the risk reward. Yeah, interesting. Did you get to travel as part of that role? Did you get out and about?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, lots of travelling to some very strange places. I mean, I remember wondering, what am I doing here with armed guards walking me around towns in Yemen and Tripoli and all sorts of places

Andy:

Any stories that a standout for you from that time?

Tom Morrison Jones:

The high was really getting the largest export order in the company's short history. So we got asked to visit some people in Tripoli in Libya. And after a number of visits with various people, we were awarded contracts for 800 cars, which at the time was nearly $10 million worth of actual credit arriving into the company. So it was quite a thrill to be part of that.

Andy:

Yeah, I can imagine a lot of focus being put upon you, if you were talking about bringing in that sort of size of a deal to a fairly young iteration of the company.

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right. Yeah, the factory was extremely interested to know when these orders would be filled.

Andy:

And how did you find dealing with presumably dealing with Libyans were you?

Tom Morrison Jones:

it was very different. So in most cases like that you would have someone as an intermediary, whether they're an official importer of your product or not, they would have local knowledge and contacts to understand what was really going on. And whether that matched what you were being told.

Andy:

Who was the customer, was the customer government or?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, at that time, it was not possible for a private individual to purchase a car in Libya, every single car was imported by the government, and almost awarded to an applicant that wanted one at a discounted price. And that was seen as a way of keeping the population happy with whatever the policies of the government were at the time.

Andy:

Right. Okay. Sounds very interesting. At such a young age, potentially daunting, but you've got such a measured approach with this thinking, Okay, what's the worst thing that can happen? If it ends in a few years, I'll have got loads of experience and can take that elsewhere or take that into my next thing. So how did that draw to a conclusion, your export role?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So I did that role until the company went into administration, which I think was four or five years after it was formed and in the end, it became obvious it was going to happen, but at various moments there were supposed to be new investors to take the company on most notably from China. But in the end, it didn't happen. And the company did stop trading, and the assets were sold to a couple of Chinese companies. And so that's how that ended. And that, I suppose, is an example of external factors, meaning I changed the rudder.

Andy:

And what direction did you push the rudder in then? I realise that analogy is so wrong, because if you push the rudder in one direction, you're gonna go in the opposite direction. So any nautical folk ignore that.

Tom Morrison Jones:

So to begin with, I tried to keep the rudder steady, and you start going to recruitment centres or assessment centres for similar jobs. But after a couple of months of doing that, it became obvious to me that it was nothing more than a reunion party for people that used to work for Rover group. I thought this is gonna take quite a while for all these people to settle down. And the roles had become less contested. So not long after this point, I decided I'm going to just take a break from finding a new job. And then I went off and did an MBA, which was a year's enterprise at Birmingham Business School.

Andy:

And, alright, personal question, how did you manage to fund that as a what would you be 30 something?

Tom Morrison Jones:

It happened at a reasonable time because I didn't have children yet. So my wife worked, no kids, not a crazy mortgage. But crucially, Birmingham Business School, decided to offer it as a scholarship to former Rover employees that were affected by the situation.

Andy:

Do you think it benefited you, the MBA and if so, how?

Tom Morrison Jones:

definitely benefited me, some modules are found naturally more interesting than others. But if I think about accounting or business strategy, these things I found very useful in my future career

Andy:

and as you got towards the end of that programme, were you then looking for your next move?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, my thought was by this time, everyone from Rover will have settled down, found a new role. So let's go again, with the rudder in the same place. And of course, I, I attended a couple of recruitment events and the same people were there. A year is not a long time. And I thought, no, no, no, this is not the answer for me. So I actually decided, rather than writing to manufacturers asking for a job, I wrote to every single manufacturer and said, I don't want a job. Have you got a project for me? And immediately, the offers came in?

Andy:

Oh, my, let's just say that again. So instead of looking for a job with them, you wrote to manufacturers, a number of them did you say,

Tom Morrison Jones:

every single one, personally to the managing director, and the opening line was, I don't want the job.

Andy:

It's brilliant. It's brilliant. So you took the heat off them straightaway, but you then offer to help, just want to project?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yeah, so it's, like low risk, isn't it, if they've got a project that they haven't got someone to do, it gives them a chance to progress the project and to see what I can do. And then maybe that will lead to something more is the way I viewed it. And a couple of managing directors wrote back quite quickly saying, Yes, we do have a project. Would you be interested in doing this and you go in to speak to them and in the end, the first project was supposed to last six months and it went on for six years

Andy:

Oh, wow. Did you say we went to speak to them?

Tom Morrison Jones:

The Royal we sorry. Yes.

Andy:

Okay, no, I just wondered if you'd sort of connected with anyone at that point. I love that. I love the initiative there. I'm just thinking though, how come Tom, you because what you've done is, you've done what so many people struggle to do I guess, which is you've escaped the tyranny of salary. You felt maybe you didn't have a choice, because you'd left it a year gone back, still very competitive job market. So there's a little bit of motivation there. But is that how you were able to be relaxed thinking No, I won't go for a job, I'll just go for opportunities for projects.

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think it was necessity, really, I needed to do something and the way I was going about it wasn't working. And it may come back to this calm measured approach. So when if you think about what we were talking about earlier, I'm not very salesy. So this probably goes against me, if I'm in an assessment centre with 30 people all pretending to be you know exactly what this company needs. I tend to sit there thinking, God, you love the sound of your own voice too much, can let me never say? So I don't shine in that situation. And I think it took me a while to realise that because every job up until that point, I'd got in a very different way. So I just changed the way I was addressing the problem. And it worked, I guess, because nobody else was writing and saying, I don't want a job

Andy:

It's brilliant. They say when everyone's zigging, you zag. Okay, so you had this what was the job? What was the job the project that lasted six years.

Tom Morrison Jones:

So the big one that lasted six years was with Mercedes Benz, a project to take a smart car, which was a combustion engine product at the time and convert it into an electric vehicle and run trials with business consumers and work with the government to work out strategy behind charging networks, and so forth. So my brief to begin with was to find users for a vehicle that had been developed and was almost ready to go on to trial. And of course, when I got there, the vehicle wasn't nearly ready. So it turned out to be far more than an engineering project in its first phase to get the product completed, so that it could then go on trial. And it took a long time. But in the end, the product came, the consumers were found, the business was found, the government funding was secured to make it all happen. And the data was fed back into development so that now you can walk into a smart showroom and buy or lease an electric smart

Andy:

I'm thinking then, because the vehicle wasn't ready when car. you got there. When you first said that was the project I thought brilliant you leverage your fleet sales experience, going out there talking to potential customers about this product, that fits really nicely with what you've done before. But with it turning into an engineering product did that become then more of a learning opportunity than you might have thought?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Definitely yes, never before had I worked with engineers, and not only was I having to work with engineers in Stuttgart who had a particular view of the world, I was also having to work with engineers in England, sort of third party engineering companies who were helping develop components for this car and bring that all together in a form that was acceptable to Mercedes in Stuttgart.

Andy:

And at a point during that did they try to hire you?

Tom Morrison Jones:

No, I don't remember that being the case. And I'd already by that stage realised this is a better situation now, I work for myself, I'm a consultant to the customer, I didn't really have any interest, let's say after the initial six months of becoming a salaried employee again,

Andy:

and were you doing other projects at the same time, or did this become a sole focus?

Tom Morrison Jones:

There were other projects, I was doing work with LDV, a van maker in the Midlands, and that was more of an export role, which sort of related to what I've done just before, with Rover, and there was a new business being created by eBay called eBay Motors, which was trying to become better than Autotrader from a standing start. So they were creating a new platform for the classified sale of cars rather than an auction format. And so I did some work with them to get that going. So there were a number of projects on the go. But the biggest by far was with Mercedes. And in the end, they kind of took over because I felt this was what this was the biggest challenge, doing justice to all the projects. And invariably, it's impossible. So I found, despite wanting to spread the risk and have my eggs in different baskets, I found myself almost inevitably becoming totally exposed to one project again, because it was so big. And that was not planned. And when that project did inevitably come to an end, you have a very similar situation where you need to find another very big project, because you haven't got six other small ones to fall back on. So I didn't feel particularly comfortable with that after the six years, I said to my wife, I need to change this again, because I'm not going to do a project every year or two, and then have to find another one to replace it. So this was another moment where the rudder changed again,

Andy:

Ah thank you for sharing this, Tom, I love it. It's just the evolution of it. And as you you try things and you find new things that are this works well. It's good to be autonomous, you know, I don't want to be an employee anymore. But then realising I didn't plan and think, myself and listeners'll be thinking, unusual for Tom not to plan, Tom's coming across as a bit of a planner so far so for you to say, this wasn't planned that this project would expand and occupy you 100% of your available time, that happened and you thought, Okay, I'm not comfortable with this. I don't want to be doing a project for a couple of years and then having to find another one. So what did you do?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Honestly don't know how it happened. But for some reason, I just got fixated. And this is my character, I'll just latch on to something and it becomes an obsession. I got fixated with the world of classic cars. So there I was only dealing with manufacturing new cars and selling new cars, to suddenly becoming fascinated with the world of classic cars, and how to look after them. And I started to look through different publications. And I noticed that people were making businesses out of looking after investment cars that people were owning, or just cars that they had pleasure in owning but didn't have time to look after themselves. And what went from me imagining people want to have a car at home so they can look at it and work on it in their spare time quickly evolved, and I realised there was a whole world where people didn't have their cars at home, they paid professional storage companies to look after them. And this grew and grew. And as I investigated further, in the end, I established a car storage company, which has the possibility of taking at any one moment a couple of 100 vehicles, and each of those cars need looking after, they're not immobile objects. So they have to be cared for, serviced, MOTd. Often they need repairing whether it's bodywork or wheels, or anything you can imagine. So over the years, I've just bolted on any service that anyone says they need in relation to these cars. I've just taken that as an opportunity to evolve that service on my offer. The idea is that we make life very easy for people who want to own these things.

Andy:

So I'm just going to jump in with personal experience here. Because listeners I recently treated myself to a car. I'm not in a position to let Tom look after it 100% of the time, but it was a used car and I needed to really make it my own and I trusted Tom to take it And what did you do, Tom, just to explain what, what you did.

Tom Morrison Jones:

So this car went through a full detailing process. So after the car's been completely decontaminated, it received machine polishing, various stages of machine polishing to refine and finesse the paintwork remove any light scratches that have accumulated over the years. And then when that's done, we protect the good work, which we did with a ceramic coating, that was the bodywork. We did a couple of paint repairs, I believe to the bumper, we refurbished all the alloy wheels, did some repairs to the interior leather, sounds like you bought a real dog of a car

Andy:

It does doesn't it, I was just thinking that, sounds like it was a write off.

Tom Morrison Jones:

Anyway, I like to think it left a bit better than when it arrived.

Andy:

It might have been acceptable to some as it was, but it came back, as far as I was concerned, it was like new. And yeah, I'm really grateful for that, and would definitely trust you. What's without obviously compromising any confidentiality, what are some of the cars you've got under your care at the moment?

Tom Morrison Jones:

It's such a broad spectrum, I would never have imagined it being this way. There's cars worth millions of pounds, which are obvious collector's items. And that's how I imagined the business would be. At the other end of the spectrum, their are cars that are not worth much money at all, but they have a sentimental value to somebody. So you're you're asked to look after things that you never imagined would be candidates for storage, but yeah, it's wonderful to have that variety.

Andy:

Yeah. And how did you pick up the skills that you now have, because you personally get involved in you don't just own this business, you actually get involved with the work don't

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right. I've I've employed people you? over the years. And it's been very apparent that I'm awful at delegating. So I employ someone and they spend their whole time watching me do all the work. If they actually manage to do something, I end up doing it again, because I wasn't happy with it, two big problems with my character have meant that probably it's a constraint on growth, because I so passionately want to control the quality of everything. I just can't accept other people doing it. So invariably, I do it myself. And then I know if it's not right, it's my fault.

Andy:

So you might not want that I might not want you as a leader in my business. But as someone taking care of my car, you're perfect. That level of obsession is just what I'm looking for. So

Tom Morrison Jones:

I can really see this thing about the flashy salesman, when when I get a new customer, I often ask them, Why have you chosen me because they've often been around three or four other providers. And usually it comes back that they just feel more comfortable that I'm stable and trustworthy, and will do what I say. So it's interesting, because I never really saw that as a positive quality before. It's something I've you know, not been outspoken enough has been a constraint up until this job but has actually become an advantage now.

Andy:

Well, well deserved. Absolutely well deserved. And if anyone has got a vehicle, as you say the value isn't if it's sentimental value it doesn't have to be a multimillion pound vehicle. If anyone's got a car, in the UK, anywhere in the UK that they would like to have stored, I can thoroughly recommend giving it into the capable and caring hands of Tom. And you pick up don't you and you drop off and you do all these wonderful services so that customers can enjoy their vehicles when they want them

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's right. Another thing I imagined when I started this company was that we would have customers here all the time visiting, wanting to spend time looking at their cars and using them and bringing them backwards and forwards. But more often than not, they want the service, they are time poor, they're often in faraway places and they want the car at their house for a weekend and then it needs to come back again and they haven't got time to come and get it so we are constantly taking vehicles backwards and forwards so people can enjoy them rather than posting them at their facility.

Andy:

The skills then that you have to do this work yourself, how did you develop those,

Tom Morrison Jones:

just identifying what I needed to deliver the service that was required. So as an example, the detailing side of the business, I went and got trained on it by the best person I could find. So I came back and I had this skill and I developed it either on some of my own cars or by in the early days getting friends and family to allow me to do it on their own vehicles. If I identified a service that I wasn't able to do through trial and error lets say, then I would then accept that I would need some external support. So a couple of things where I just haven't got the skills or the aptitude to do I mean, refurbishing an alloy wheel would be an example of something that you would take to a trusted third party. And then the offer is more about convenience, because I'm handling that for the owner rather than them having to do it themselves. For me, it's been interesting, with the benefit of hindsight, actually, it was obvious, I would end up doing this all along. If only I'd realised at the beginning I wouldn't have had to have done all the other things in between. I'm talking about when I was a tiny boy, I'd have all these cars lined up perfectly on display in their own place. No one was allowed to touch them. My mom says, Now it makes sense. This is what you were supposed to have done. And I see it now with my son. He was like three at the time. And my wife dropped a load of nails on the ground in the garden. And she was like, No, this is gonna take hours to pick up and she started picking them up. My three year old son ran indoors and got a magnet, and he picked them all up in a jiffy. And I think from that moment, I knew he was gonna be an engineer. Isn't it funny? Something so early on, relates to what you're probably going to be in years.

Andy:

Yeah, oh, there's so much there isn't there? I mean, it's wonderful that you're in a place now where you look at what you're doing and you think this is where I'm supposed to be. And you're looking back and thinking, why did it take me so long to get here or you know why? But we understand now, because we've listened to it, we understand why you followed your father into automotive, but you just refined it and refined it. So you went from working for a corporate to working for yourself on projects, and then realised I want to work for myself, but you don't want projects, you wanted something that had more sustainability to it wasn't as high risk. And then you identified this opportunity, just through curiosity, and through being interested in classic cars and then seeing Hang on, there's a business model here that people are operating. And then you taught yourself because of that obsession that you said and that mindset, that character trait that you have you then taught yourself the things you needed to know to set up that business. I mean, it's one thing being a consultant and doing projects, but you now have premises, you have a lease, you have big overheads that you wouldn't have had as a consultant. How did you navigate that piece?

Tom Morrison Jones:

I suppose if I wanted to do this, at the beginning, I wouldn't have had the resources available. So if you consider that all the work I did up to that point, accumulated the resources I needed to launch this business. It kind of looks like there was a strategy there all along. To answer your question, I had accumulated reserves, I basically thought, well, I can sit on these reserves. And they'll they'll slowly dissipate as I consume them just through living, or I can invest them into something that is going to create the business. And last a lot longer

Andy:

really interesting. And you mentioned your son at three running in and getting a magnet, which is just a wonderful story. And how old is he now?

Tom Morrison Jones:

So he's now 15. Right. So this is Charlie, we're talking about who I met a couple of weeks ago when I came along to watch him karting. So like you, he has now taken on the karting bug, if you like or opportunity and also met your dad at the same time, which was a great privilege, knowing that we were going to have this conversation and we were going to be talking about him as well. So what's karting for Charlie like compared to how it was for you? Charlie's very different to me. He's far more technical, more interested in how things work, more capable of fixing things. When he takes things apart, he can put them back together again, without having any spare items left over. Even from a very early age of Lego, it was just incredible to watch him, the patience and the interest is remarkable. He loves racing his kart, but he's very much into understanding how the engine works and actually taking it apart and putting it back together and trying to make it go better for himself. Whereas most other kids of that age, they're there to enjoy the driving and they're not that involved in the maintenance of the equipment.

Andy:

Or they're there because their dads enjoy it.

Tom Morrison Jones:

That's true

Andy:

I noticed a bit of that when I was wandering around the paddock, some fairly invested parents

Tom Morrison Jones:

there's a lot of you fulfil my dreams because I didn't manage it myself going on.

Andy:

Which isn't the case with Charlie, hengenuinely wants to be there listeners. So maybe a third generation of Morrison Jones in automotive? Potentially?

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think today Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll be some way an engineer in automotive or possibly civil engineering. I don't know. It could even be, you know, the world of motorsport is where he ends up working.

Andy:

Well, we wish him all the very best. Do you have other children?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Yes, I have a daughter, Alice, who's less interested in cars, and definitely less interested in karting. She's a bit younger. And we wait to see what obsesses her mind.

Andy:

Yeah. Really interesting. And maybe nothing will, because a lot of people don't know do they. Or they don't realise I think. There's a difference between knowing and, and realising. Because if I think about it, I could have worked out a bit earlier than I did what I was supposed to be doing in the same way that you look at your situation now and think this is what I want to be doing. Did you miss anything about being in a corporate organisation?

Tom Morrison Jones:

Well I could be forgiven for missing the security. But actually, when you think about it, there is non

Andy:

perceived security. Yeah, the perception of security that people in corporate jobs have

Tom Morrison Jones:

I think once we get over that point, or past that point, then there actually is a bit of a eureka moment, because you are your own security so get on with it.

Andy:

With that, Tom drop the mic and left the call. No. I'm not going to let you go, I'm just going to ask you, is there anything I haven't asked you, Tom that means I've missed an opportunity for another one of your golden nuggets or something you've reflected on maybe even just during this call? I mean, you've already said it's kind of all fallen into place now, but anything else that I should have asked you about?

Tom Morrison Jones:

No, I think the main thing is to go for it would be my conclusion. Some of the things I've ended up doing, you can easily talk yourself out of it. If the circumstances allow your personal circumstances allow the chance to do it, just go for it

Andy:

said like the lowest key motivational speaker. I love it, you've got so many brilliant points you've made during the course of this conversation, all delivered in a very calm, no one's gonna get excited. But just go out there and smash it. Thank you, Tom. If people want to get in touch with you, I tell you what the first thing they should do is go on your Instagram and look at some of the amazing cars that you're looking after if they're interested in cars, and also how you lavish attention on them. And all the services that you offer, because you're always taking them here, there and everywhere. So and swapping owners cars over, so remind me what's the Instagram called,

Tom Morrison Jones:

you can find us at car storage GB,

Andy:

at car storage GB on Instagram. And if people want to get in touch with you, they can email you directly can't they

Tom Morrison Jones:

It will be on the Instagram page. There'll be contact details for email, and telephone. Great. And we'll put a link to the Instagram in the show notes for this episode. So if you haven't got space at home listeners and you're craving a little toy for yourself, then Tom can help. You no longer need to have to worry about not being able to keep it at home, he can look after it for you and take incredible care of it. So thank you, Tom been absolutely fabulous, I knew it would be fun. And I love your journey because you've done so many things. So many different, you've gone on on this journey and you've taken as you say you've moved the rudder, and you've gradually found yourself owning a sustainable business, which you can have all the attention to detail that you want to have and it works for you. And yeah, thanks for sharing it with us. It's been absolute pleasure. Thanks, Andy.

Andy:

You've been listening to Career-view Mirror with me, Andy Follows. I hope you found some helpful points to reflect on in Tom's story that can help you with your own career journey, or that have those you lead, parent or mentor. You are unique and during my conversation with Tom, you'll have picked up on topics that resonate with you. A few things that stood out for me were the clarity that Tom benefited from, as a result of knowing from an early age what he wanted to do. How that helped him make specific decisions like choosing a retail management degree to differentiate himself from those with broader business studies qualifications, his approach to sales, which was not reliant on charisma, but on really understanding his customers and their challenges and finding genuine solutions. Once again we heard how someone's genuine curiosity about their customers and their needs, allowed him to gain credibility and succeed as a young person dealing with older customers in a business to business environment, how external forces sometimes provided the impetus for Tom to move on. For example, when Rover went into administration and he couldn't find an alternative position, he did his MBA. And then when he couldn't get a salaried job back in automotive, he wrote to all the manufacturers asking for project work. And that was the beginning of his consultancy business. The progressive approach he's taken to his career, refining his situation with various steps along the way, based on an increasing self awareness of his needs, preferences and capabilities until he finally has the sense that he's in the right place. Now, you can contact Tom via email and Instagram. And we'll put a link in the show notes to this episode. We publish these episodes to celebrate my guests careers, listen to their stories, and learn from their experiences. And I'm genuinely interested in what resonated with you. Thank you to all of you for sharing your feedback. Thanks also to Hannah and Julia, who as part of the Career-view Mirror team here at Aquilae. work so hard to deliver these episodes to you. Thanks for listening

Welcome, family and school
Studying Retail Management at University and a placement year with Rover Group
Starting as a postgraduate with Rover Group in Corporate Sales
Moving to Lexus as National Manager for fleet sales
Approached by Rover to become an Export Manager
A break from working to do an MBA
Seeking a project with a manufacturer and a six year project with Mercedes Benz
Fixation on classic cars results in the setting up of Ecurie Esprit
Wrapping up and takeaways