An Interview with the Founder/Owner of ODM
We were finally able to book time into Simon Dawes busy schedule to arrange an interview with him.
There were various points to cover and various highlights from this.
We aim to release these articles over the next week or so, with snippets of the interview within.
First off, we asked Simon to tell us a bit about the 'roots' of ODM Ltd, and how it was founded.
How did it all start?
"Well
my first involvement in Field Marketing was taking some temporary work whilst
studying Estate Management in 1992. The money was far better than the usual
bar/restaurant work and was more sociable hours. My job consisted of
sales/promotions for banks and credit card companies at sporting event and
exhibitions– basically the job that most of odm’s field staff do today!
At
the end of my studies I fell into working full time for the same agency, hoping
to earn enough money to travel and fish around South America. Somehow I must
have impressed them and the next thing I know is I am commuting daily from
Warwickshire to Hertfordshire, working at head office as an Account Manager for
the GM Card, the first ever UK co-brand credit card!
Things
progressed and travel plans were ditched, Estate Management fell off the radar
and my career in Field Marketing began in earnest. Over four years I progressed
to become an Account Director running a number of key accounts and then was
sent to Scotland for six months to set up a new office. I met my future wife
who was a Sales Manager for the same company and everything was looking great
on the surface.
However,
behind the scenes there were problems with the business and morale was not
good.
The
end result was the owners of the business deserting the sinking ship and
leaving employees floundering. The inevitable happened and the business folded
leaving all of the office and field staff unpaid and redundant.
After spending a week unpaid, explaining to an
angry group of staff the situation and trying to help the field team recover
their money, I decided I had a looming priority – a big wedding in two weeks
time that needed paying for!!"
So what do you think of that? Did you know all of that?
Next time we will follow on with what took place next.
For more information about ODM Ltd please visit our site www.odmltd.com
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