COMMUNICATION IS KEY – AND MY WIFE
When Antony Hawker signed the agreement on June 23rd 1989 on a hot summer day in Sarreguemines, he had a strong feeling he was doing the right thing, but he had no idea what was ahead of him.
Dr. Heinz Anterist, founder of InterGest, sat opposite him and watched with great satisfaction as Antony signed the franchise agreement. Once again he had found a competent partner for his worldwide InterGest network and, like Antony, he had a good feeling about it.
“When we went through the franchise contract, I started asking questions. I remember Heinz Anterist answering them with increasing impatience. After the 5th question or so he closed his file and said to me ‘Antony, are you going to sign the agreement, yes or no, it’s take it or leave it?!’” Antony recalls with a laugh. “That was it, I signed.”
Antony started work in 1976 having just left school. In 1978 he was involved in a kitchen retailer who was desperate to expand his UK business, the main manufacturer involved being Poggenpohl. In order to understand the kitchen industry more, Antony was asked to attend a kitchen design course in Germany, which was in a way exciting as Antony had never flown before !
The owner of Poggenpohl had already tracked the success of this UK kitchen retailer and on the visit to Germany asked to see Antony in order to discuss if he could help with the Poggenpohl subsidiary in the UK. Conversations took place in German - with translator - and by the end of the second day of training Antony had secured the contract for looking after the finances of Poggenpohl UK.
The financial controller of Poggenpohl Germany was Wolfram von Gehlen who watched with the Poggenpohl management over the next 10 years the service provided by Antony. They were very impressed with the results and Wolfram kept in touch with Heinz Anterist at the same time as InterGest France looked after Poggenpohl France.
During early 1989 Antony received a phone call from Wolfram von Gehlen asking if his name could be passed to Heinz Anterist. Heinz had followed the development of Poggenpohl UK as Antony had also followed Poggenpohl France since the two markets were often compared together by Wolfram von Gehlen as systems often matched. Within a few weeks of being introduced, Heinz was visiting London and Antony visiting Sarreguemines resulting in the scene mentioned at the beginning when the franchise agreement was signed.
Since that time InterGest UK has served many clients, some for a few years, others are still very active. Poggenpohl went through a series of owners and sadly, when Nobia took control, they decided to in-source the finance work. Today over 100 companies are served satisfactorily, including Mapal UK (created in 1993), Horn (1995) and Falke (1995). InterGest UK acquired clients, making businesses into profitable ones, sold companies, purchased companies and helped parent companies to improve their reporting systems.
Looking back, the road to success is not easily described or summarised by Antony: “Yes, I built up a successful business but, to be honest, I have no idea HOW. I just get up in the morning and work at it, see what people need from me and do my best to deliver it.”
There is one crucial realisation that Antony is happy to share, though: “Communication is key. Amongst other things I learned that from late Heinz Anterist. He himself was always in dialogue with people in order to learn from them and let them know what he thought or needed. Especially these days, where e-mails swamp your inbox, I think it is important people know they can communicate with me personally. I will make sure they will always get an answer and I am open to any kind of discussion. Even if a client thinks our prices are too high, that´s fine by me. I will ask him what they are able to pay and adjust my service package accordingly. Why ever not? You should always talk to each other.”
Focusing on communication also goes for the InterGest network, Antony is making a point of engaging with InterGest partners all over the world to learn from them, exchange views, discuss new ways. “In 35 years, I have only missed one InterGest Annual Meeting. No matter where in the world it took place - Dubai, New York, Cancun, Shanghai or Saarbrücken - I was there for the conference during the day and a chat at night at the bar with my fellow partners.”
Is there anything else that helped you, Antony? “I mustn´t forget my wife, Fiona! She played and today still plays a key role in our story. We met 1984, got married in 1990, and have run our business together ever since. She is my best trouble shooter. If we need something to be sorted, she is the one to take care of it.”
Long-term relationships seem to be important then? “I think we´re quite good at them, yes. Take my co-director Kevin Moss, he started to work with us as a trainee 25 years ago and now is our director to find new clients, and Martin Weston who has been with us just as long and is also a director and is in charge of delivering quality services to clients.”
No doubt, Antony Hawker could write a book about the past 35 years. Would he be willing to share one of his best stories?
“WMF asked me to attend a meeting in Germany. When I arrived in the conference room I was surprised if not shocked to see 50 people sitting there, one from every department. They all wanted to learn from me why they weren´t successful in the UK. So I started to speak to them and pointed out, amongst other things, that if you want to sell in the UK you must be able to deliver i.e. know how logistics and distribution work. The Managing Director stopped me right there, looked at his Distribution Manager and said: ‘I want you to send 20 of our teaspoons to Mr. Hawker in London to see if they arrive.’ The spoons were sent – and failed to arrive in my office. WMF then asked me as InterGest UK to find them a Distribution Partner for UK and after that, things turned around.”
Hence, Antony has every reason to share his decades of experiences with others and to look forward to InterGest UK`s future.
CEO of the worldwide InterGest network, Prof. Peter Anterist, is proud to have a partner like Antony: “Our network is based on long-term relationships with our partners. We rely on their entrepreneurship and their competence. Antony has contributed immensely to the success of our network and we are very grateful to have him with us. He will undoubtedly lead InterGest UK confidently into an even brighter future. Congratulations, Antony!”
