Palletline appoints commercial chief to help members boost business

Steve Thorpe has been appointed head of commercial at Palletline, with a brief to help members develop new business opportunities and support their existing customers.  

Thorpe joined Palletline in 2021 as a regional general manager covering the southeast of England after holding multiple positions within transport and logistics for over 30 years, working his way up the ladder from the traffic desk all the way to director level. 

He also sits on Palletline’s commercial steering group with a number of selected Palletline members, who investigate and introduce new products, services and initiatives to support the growth of the Palletline network.

One of these initiative is the introduction of a series of new commercial support packages which are designed to support members with their sales and marketing activity to boost brand awareness and increase sales leads for Palletline members. The plans are broken down into three packages: Essentials, Standard and Premium Plans. 

The Essentials Plan offers all the assistance a member may need to get them started on their own commercial marketing operation including a commercial audit, support developing a commercial strategy, mentoring, a weekly update and review and sales tool creation.

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The Standard Plan adds an enhanced lead package from strategic partner Zint, a leading UK specialist sales intelligence platform for members to discover and develop leads within their postcode regions.

The Premium Plan adds telemarketing and marketing support together with the option for key prospect joint visit support.

In addition Thorpe has recently delivered two commercial workshop days in Solihull and Haydock designed for members’ sales and marketing teams.

Sessions through the day covered Palletline’s positioning in the market, top tips on differentiating their brands in the market and a refresher course on utilising LinkedIn to sell.

Future plans include the launch of regional ‘pods’ to enable smaller groups of commercial teams to come together to share best practice, network and collaborate further. 

Graham Leitch, Palletline’s group managing director, said: “We are very excited about the launch of these new commercial packages which we see as a great springboard for our members to explore new opportunities within their regions. 

“It is an ambitious exercise, but one which will provide our members with the necessary marketing and commercial support to enable them to develop and expand for the benefit of their business as well as embrace the opportunities the Palletline network has to offer.

“Steve has already hit the ground running and we are confident his experience and track record in the industry will help to deliver some exciting results for our network members.”