Twenty six client meetings (and several breakfasts with my Mum) and counting! My first 100 days at Blue Zinc

One hundred days ago I took up a new role, heading sales for the corporate division of Blue Zinc, a superb company that provides case and referral management solutions for the rehabilitation sector, based in my hometown of Belfast (it’s wonderful to travel back “home” on a regular basis, and the early flight has its benefits - landing at 7 in the morning means I can often go and have breakfast with my Mum before the working day begins!)

This job has been something I relished since I started talking to the company last year – a senior role talking to some of the most advanced companies involved in well-being about a product that can literally increase profitability, make staff happier and more efficient and make their clients delighted. Of course, it helps that my many colleagues – in particular Kyle Lunn, Robert Roemer, Vanessa Cassidy, and Niall McKeever – are hugely?supportive, and we have a tight team.

Coming from a background of medical equipment, where decisions are taken in a day, I wanted to ensure my arrival showed the same level of urgency. Luckily, I found Blue Zinc more than up to the task. There's a real hunger in the company to understand our customers’ needs. We want to speak directly to the people in the companies who’ll be implementing our product, so that we know how we can fit in as easily as possible to bring the biggest benefit.

With that in mind I’ve been reaching out to many, many people across the industry – I’ve spoken to 26 companies so far, covering nearly 25 percent of the health and well-being sector in the UK. While I believe in acting and responding fast, you also need to learn from knowledge and experience, so it's not a case of leaping before you look. It is in fact a due diligence process, learning what our customers want, so that we are even better prepared, even quicker than beforehand.

It is said in a sales background that actions speak louder than words, and it's all very well talking the talk but can I walk the walk? We shall see, but I'm certain that the more people I meet, the more I learn. The more I learn the better we can serve our clients. The world of case management is changing rapidly, particularly in empowering patients to take the planning and decision making into their own hands (much of this is due to our remarkable solutions), and we can only keep up with our clients by understanding their unique and individual needs.