Meet Martin: Interview with Hansford Sensors’ new US Vice President of Sales

Did you hear about our recent good news? We’ve opened a new facility in the United States. This exciting development will enable us to better service the US market and meet growing demand for our products.

Earlier this week we sat down with the leader of the US operation, Martin Armson, to ask him a few questions about his new role and plans for the future. Here’s what happened:

Interviewer: Hi Martin, thanks for joining me. To start, do you want to tell us a bit about your experience in the market?
Martin: I’ve been in instrumentation and sensors all my working life. Straight out of university, I worked for a US vibration monitoring company – in its UK office – for five years. This gave me one perspective of US instrumentation companies. Since moving to the USA, I’ve worked for many large and small companies in this sector.

I can’t quite place your accent… Boston?
I’m actually from Ipswich in the UK. I moved to the USA 25 years ago – through an inter-company transfer – and now have citizenship. People smile when I tell them I moved from the UK to Dayton, Ohio. But it was a lovely place to live: the Midwest is a great place to raise a family. And I’m still a Buckeyes fan!

So why has Hansford Sensors opened a North American office?
There is growing demand in the USA for our vibration sensors as more companies adopt predictive maintenance practices – and the sensors become more affordable. But to properly serve the market, we need a strong base here: sales, customer support, technical support, inventory and manufacturing. Our new facility in Greenville, South Carolina will help us achieve that.

What’s your top priority right now?
To have inventory and infrastructure ready for our customers, so we can respond to their needs. I’m also focused on recruiting – and training – sales partners across the country, in order to expand our customer base. All this will help us to grow our business.

What does Hansford Sensors offer over its competitors?
We have a flexible approach to doing business. Our products match – or surpass – anything from our competitors. But product is only half of our value proposition. The other part of any purchase order is the service behind the product that we supply – be it packaging, engineering support, quality control documentation or a host of other factors. We also have a global footprint, while our competitors are very focused on the US. This puts us in an ideal position to support multi-national companies across the world.

Out of interest, what do you prefer about UK? And the US?
I miss the history and the hiking in the UK but enjoy the weather and the convenience of living in the USA. Business is very similar, though: quality product, consultative selling and good customer support is valued by engineers and supply chain managers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Thanks for your time, Martin
Pleasure!