Gary Wharton has almost 30 years of experience in sales, has worked in football recruitment and is now Sales Manager at Landia UK.
The common thread throughout has always been people.
For Gary, good sales is about relationships, understanding the customer’s challenge and finding a solution that works.
We sat down with him to talk about his journey to Landia, what he learned from football and his first visit to Landia’s headquarters and factory in Denmark.
You’ve said that joining Landia felt a little like coming home. Why?
I think, first and foremost, it comes down to the people.
I’ve worked in sales for many years and have been part of several different companies. Some of them were very large, and when a company reaches a certain size, some of that personal connection can easily disappear.
At Landia, I experienced something different.
I already knew quite a few people, and when I joined, I kept coming across familiar faces. At the same time, I was welcomed in a very natural and relaxed way.
People help each other, and you get a real sense that everyone is working towards the same goal.
There is also a great deal of experience within the company, and many people have been here for a very long time. That brings knowledge, history and a particular culture.
Sometimes I do think I wish I had found Landia 10 or 15 years earlier. But at the same time, I’ve gained a lot of experience from other companies that I can now bring with me and use here.
How did you find your way to Landia?
I had taken some time away from work after a difficult period in my personal life, and when I was ready to start again, I wanted to find something more local and something that felt meaningful to me.
Then I saw a coordinator position advertised at Landia UK.
At that point in my career, I would normally have looked for a more senior role, but there was something about the job and company that felt right.
The timing was almost a little strange. We were in the process of moving house and had put down a deposit on a house just a few minutes’ walk from Landia. A week later, I was offered the job.
It almost felt as though it was meant to be.
I started as a coordinator around 18 months ago, working with quotations and orders. After a few months, I was asked if I would go out and visit some customers. It went well, and from there the role developed quickly.
Today, I’m Sales Manager at Landia UK and lead the sales team. Things have moved quickly, but I haven’t looked back since.
You’ve worked in football recruitment for several years. What have you taken from that experience?
More than you might think.
A large part of the job was about people. Talking to players and parents, being honest with them and understanding their situation.
You also quickly learn that success is rarely about one person alone. There are always people around a player who help and support them.
That is something I can easily transfer to my work at Landia.
Here, it is also about supporting colleagues and customers and understanding what they need.
Sometimes people get frustrated, or things do not go as planned. In those situations, it is important to understand where they are coming from and help them move forward.
What do you enjoy most about sales and working with customers?
I really enjoy everything about sales.
I like the fact that every day is different. I enjoy meeting new people, being challenged and coming to work feeling that I can make a difference.
That fits very well with Landia because our customers often come to us with a specific challenge.
We are not simply selling them a product. We need to understand the problem and find the right solution.
That is the part I really enjoy.
There is a real sense of satisfaction in working with a customer and reaching the point where you can say: we solved it together.
Relationships are also very important to me. Over time, some customer relationships have developed into friendships. It is that interaction with people that makes sales interesting for me.
What does it mean to you to lead the sales team at Landia UK?
I really enjoy helping colleagues develop.
If I can use some of my experience to give others more confidence and help them progress in their careers, that means a lot to me.
Of course, I also enjoy the commercial side of the role. Strategy, targets and seeing the results move in the right direction bring a real sense of achievement.
But I am very team orientated.
That probably comes from sport.
You win as a team, and you lose as a team.
It doesn’t matter which team member brings the biggest success as long as we all play our part in meeting our objective, we achieved together.
Everyone brings something different to the team, and I think achieving something together means far more than individual success, don’t get me wrong when there is individual achievement then this also needs to be recognised
It is just like football. One good player cannot win a match alone. It takes a team.
You have just visited Landia’s headquarters and factory in Denmark for the first time. What made the biggest impression?
It makes a big difference to see everything with your own eyes.
When you work in the UK, you naturally build up an impression of the company through emails, phone calls and contact with colleagues. But it is completely different to come to Denmark and stand in the middle of the production facilities.
I didn’t realise just how big Landia actually is.
When you work in the UK operation, you don’t necessarily see everything that sits behind it. It is only when you visit the factory that you really get a sense of the scale.
I was also surprised by how much is being invested in production, both in expanding the facilities and in new machinery designed to make production faster and more efficient.
And then there are the people.
There are many employees who have been with Landia for more than ten years. I think that says a lot about a company.
The visit has also given me a much better understanding of the level of expertise within the organisation. That is something I can take back with me when speaking to customers in the UK.
When we talk to a customer about a challenge, there is a great deal of experience and knowledge behind the solution we provide.
A little about Gary outside work
Football still plays a big part in Gary’s life.
He has supported Manchester United since childhood and also has a family connection to Crewe Alexandra, where he regularly went to matches as a child.
Over the years, he has also taken part in jujitsu, badminton, cricket and rugby.
When he wants to slow things down, he prefers to spend time on the banks of his favourite lake carp fishing.
A couple of days by the water, away from the pace of everyday life, with time simply to watch the world go by, but his number one favourite pastime is to spend time with his family.
Perhaps that says quite a lot about Gary.
Because although he enjoys results, sales and competition, he keeps coming back to the same things: people, relationships and making a difference together.
