THE LURE OF THE FENCELINE!
The lure of the fenceline has proved pivotal for Jack Bennett who has returned to a more hands-on role in Ireland after two years with Tornado.
He explained:
“I had a great two years at Tornado and learned a lot. It is a great company to work for. The management were very supportive but I also had a lot of independence to make decisions in my own sales area.
“Being a sales rep can be a challenging job when you’re trying to balance growing sales whilst keeping existing customers happy and you always have competition from other brands.
“Although I still wouldn’t class myself as a good sales person, I did learn that in order to succeed you need to develop strong relationships with customers, provide great customer service and be knowledgeable in the product you are trying to sell.
“After two years, I had to make a decision about whether I would stay at Tornado and pursue a career in sales or return to contracting and use the new skills I had learnt to build a business of my own.
“I have been fencing since I left school at 18 and always felt like I had fallen into it but some time away from the fenceline had shown me how much I enjoyed the job.
“I missed being outside, working with my hands and being able to look back after a day’s work and see what I had made so I decided I would return to contracting,” added Jack, who now lives in Kenmare in County Kerry with partner Jess who is originally from Killarney in Kerry.
“We live in a great area and it’s what you might picture when you think of rural Ireland with green mountains, a spectacular rugged coastline and local people who are big on tradition and hospitality. Oh and there’s loads of rain!
“My main customer is the National Parks and Wildlife Service who manage Ireland’s national parks. In many parks, overgrazing by deer, feral goats and sheep is not allowing native woodlands to regenerate.
“In order to mitigate this, we put up deer fence enclosures to exclude grazers. Many of the sites located in the mountains have no road access so materials and tools are brought in by helicopter.
“The terrain can be so bad that even ATV’s or quad bikes can’t get you to the work site and walking in is the only option.
“It’s very rewarding work and a real physical challenge,” concluded Jack.
You feel that Jack, who ‘learnt the ropes’ from his father Tim back in the southeast of England, has rediscovered his passion for fencing within the surroundings of a spectacular part of Ireland!
