Building a great career
CBM Aggregate’s Ryan Held has his sights set on a successful career in aggregates
What is your job title and what does it encompass?
I am the sales and marketing manager for CBM Aggregates Ontario. I manage the sales and marketing of our various products from all of our locations across Ontario. I lead a great team of sales representatives, dispatchers and the inside sales department for CBM Aggregates.
What is it about your job that other people wish they got to do?
I get to meet so many different kinds of people, and because aggregates are used in so many different applications these are people from all sorts of different industries. Every day presents something new. I’m not sitting in the office all day, instead I get to go out and meet and build relationships with both customers and employees. As well, there are lots of different interesting industry and social events we get to take our customers to – something I’m sure other people wish they could do.
What do you find most challenging in your work?
The most challenging aspect is the amount of problem solving that is needed day to day. You need to make sure your customer is happy and also that the company is pleased with the result. So you have to find the right balance that works for everybody.
Describe your typical day on the job and how your work contributes to your company.
There is no real typical day as a sales manager: some days are spent in meetings for the company where we can be discussing safety, sales, budgets, strategy, performance or quality. Other days are spent doing customer and site visits. It’s a job where you have to think on your feet because lots can happen in the course of a day. The obvious way that a sales manager contributes to the company is the revenue that is generated from the sale of the products we sell. By monitoring things like price volume and quality you can help not only the company but also the customer.
How did you get interested in this field?
I started in this field as a summer student 17 years ago with Blue Circle in London. I worked in the quality control department where I learned the products. Sales was never something I thought of doing, but a sales representative job was posted with CBM and I thought, “I know the products I will be selling and I know some of the customers I would be selling to so why not try to get an interview and see if it’s a fit?”
What sort of education or experience do you have that is relevant to your job?
I went to the University Of Western Ontario. While there isn’t really a sales course you can take at university, I did take some business and sociology courses.
What advice would you give to others looking for a possible career in aggregates?
It’s a career that is overlooked and one that isn’t well known, but I think it’s a great industry with many possibilities. I would look at starting in a quality control role because that’s where you learn about the products, you learn how to make the products, and you also learn about the customers that you sell the products to. Once you know that you can move on to the production, sales, safety or lands departments. But knowing the product and how it’s made is a great way to “springboard” into something else. Keep an open mind about aggregates. It is something that is always going to be needed and it doesn’t just build roads and buildings, it can also build a great career.