ITL held its annual sales conference during the week beginning Monday 7th December. Business Development Manager, Andy Bullock has written a blog about his experience of his very first sales conference as an ITL member of staff. 

During the week beginning Monday 7th December, I was invited to attend the annual ITL Sales Conference for the first time since joining the company. The conference runs for an entire week and involves all the sales personnel from our offices around the world. I saw this as a great opportunity for me to get to know my colleagues a bit better as it is incredibly rare that we’re all in the same room at the same time, it’s even difficult to coordinate phone calls since some of the sales people live in countries such as China, Australia and the USA.

I was pushed in at the deep end and was told that I’d be delivering my presentation on the first morning of the conference. Although, I was a bit nervous about trying to fill my 30 minute slot, I think my speech on our 2015 UK sales figures and the exciting opportunities leading into 2016 went down well

I think with every job you get wrapped up in your own little bubble, so it was an eye-opening experience seeing the extent of our worldwide coverage. The idea of sitting and listening to lots of people delivering presentations for three straight days may not be everyone’s idea of fun but when you hear the level of passion that everyone has for their jobs, you can’t help but feel you’re part of something worthwhile. I think this enthusiasm stems from David, Aidan and all of the Directors, who provide all the sales people with such support.

The three days of presentations at the conference were interspersed with a few fun nights out in the Oldham area. We showed the international sales people a traditional English pub on the Monday night when we visited the Three Crowns in Saddleworth. We chatted over a few drinks and were treated to a rousing performance of ‘Silent Night’ by our very own Lina Kazantseva backed by a traditional brass band that just happened to be sitting in the opposite corner to us! We also enjoyed meals at a Chinese and Indian restaurant, although I made the cardinal sin of eating too many starters and not saving room for the main course! I’m glad I was able to get to meet everyone in a social situation when they were all a bit more relaxed.

Before the international sales people caught their flights home, we wrapped up the week with the ITL Christmas dinner that took place in our recently opened canteen. Although some of the non-Brits seemed a bit puzzled by the presence of Brussels sprouts on their plate, the dinner was enjoyed by all. I found the week very interesting and I learned a lot about other sales regions and how many of our customers overlap, which presents a number of sales opportunities around the world. I’m looking forward to being part of the conference next year but I’m happy to have a year’s break in between!