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Coming Full Circle: Taking the Sales Helm
Barry McInturff, Director of Sales Operations
When I walked through Cambridge Wire Cloth’s doors in 1988, I couldn’t have predicted that my first job out of college would not only provide the instruction, inspiration and income to keep me fresh professionally, but would -- after almost 30 years -- continue to motivate, challenge and reward me personally.
Originally hired to work in Cambridge’s Wire Cloth division, I shifted to conveyor belt sales when CWC merged teams to better serve customers purchasing from both the belt and wire cloth divisions. Quickly learning the ‘new’ world of conveying solutions for food and industrial markets, I rose through the ranks and enjoyed a rewarding sales career for two decades. Six years ago, I welcomed the opportunity to move into operations, eventually becoming supply chain director.
When Rexnord acquired Cambridge earlier this year, I looked forward to the prospects our parent company’s global market offered. A few weeks ago, I accepted a new position back on the ‘sales side,’ this time as director.
I’m excited by the opportunities to integrate and leverage Cambridge’s proven market solutions with a global powerhouse. Thanks to an exceptional sales team and reputation, I’m concentrating on three priorities:
- First – and we’ve already begun – I’m focusing on introducing our expanded capabilities to both existing and new customers. Turning over rocks to find gems takes time, hard work, patience, and persistence. As a Rexnord company, I believe we will find great value in the new rocks we can now turn over.
- Second, I’m working with our sales leaders to create a path forward for future success with new and expanded products. Getting in front of the right decision makers with superior products and unparalleled value has been Cambridge’s winning formula for over 100 years. It will continue to serve us at Rexnord as we launch Metal Modular, Integrated Intelligence RFID, CamEdge MORE and other game-changing technologies. With new product lines, capabilities and resources, we’re poised to present our expanded services to existing customers – and introduce our renowned solutions to those in markets and industries who don’t yet know our name
- Lastly, I am working with our sales leaders to help them better evaluate and calculate the opportunities and costs of product development. I believe my experience in operations has uniquely prepared me to bring this risk-reward perspective to our ROI analysis.
Thanks to our June 2016 acquisition, Cambridge now enjoys the advantages of being both a legacy company … and a new corporation. There is simply no other belt systems company on the planet that offers the breadth of products and solutions that Rexnord and Cambridge together can.
An exciting example is the introduction of Metal Modular next quarter. While variations have been made in Europe, this is the first American manufactured modular belt designed to replace plastic. It is a game-changer for our customers and the food processing industry.
And, as I write this post, we are in throes of building out a new platform in the food and beverage market to capitalize on our shared synergies. The opportunities ahead are as fresh and exciting as the prospects I faced as a rookie 28 years ago. As I return to my sales roots, I leave you with the value added principle that has served me well these many years:
Listen twice as much as you speak and leave the customer with a reason to call you back.
Barry at Cambridge's 80th Anniversary in 1995. While we don't wear suits and ties as much, we still roll up our sleeves and get to work for our customers every day!